Itochu Interested in Financing South Stream

Japanese trading company Itochu has said that it would be interested in investing in the Gazprom-operated South Stream pipeline project, through the financing of the project as well as the supply of pipelines.

"We are now in active discussions on the project," Platts news agency reports Chief Operating Officer Kiyoshi Fujitska as saying to Gazprom's trade magazine. "[The role of Itochu would be] to supply pipes and financing... We have had talks with Gazprom, presented our offers and hope to continue the dialogue."

The potential deal would see Itochu supplying pipelines to the project in a joint venture with Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc, Platts reports, with each taking a 50 per cent stake in the venture.

Gazprom and Itochu have previously discussed several areas of potential cooperation, including discussing the South Stream project in April of this year. No details of what that cooperation might entailed were released at that time.

The two companies have also come together previously to cooperate on LNG projects, with a feasibility study into the construction of a liquefied natural gas in Vladivostok agreed at the same meeting in April this year.