Spanish Firm Buys Stake in Medgaz Pipeline

Spanish oil firm Cepsa plans to buy part of French power and gas firm GDF Suez's 12% stake in Algerian gas pipeline Medgaz, the company told newsagency Reuters.

GDF Suez is also in talks to sell some of the stake to Gas Natural, which already has a stake in the pipeline that runs between Algeria and Spain, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Medgaz shareholders have the first right to buy stakes put up for sale by other shareholders. Medgaz is majority-owned by Algerian company Sonatrach, which has 42%, Cepsa currently owns 35% and Gas Natural 10%.

The pipeline has an initial annual capacity of 8 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas.