MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) - Dutch companies have expressed an interest in developing the gas transportation system of the Netherlands through the North European gas pipeline project, Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom said Tuesday.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and the Dutch ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in Russia, Jan-Paul Dirkse, met earlier to discuss cooperation in building the North-European gas pipeline.
During the meeting, the diplomat conveyed Dutch companies' interest in the project, Gazprom said.
The North European gas pipeline, connecting Russia and Germany across the floor of the Baltic Sea, will create a direct route for natural gas deliveries from Russia to its biggest market in Western Europe and bypass transit countries such as Ukraine and Poland. The Baltic States and Poland have expressed their opposition to the project.
At the meeting the sides also discussed Russian natural gas deliveries to European markets, including Great Britain, and the possibility of transporting natural gas through Germany and the Netherlands via the Balgzand Bacton Line, currently under construction.
N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie was established in 1963 to supply and transport natural gas.
In 2000, Gazprom and the Dutch company signed a contract on the supply of Russian natural gas to the Netherlands in the amount of 80 billion cubic meters over a period of 20 years.
In June 2004, Gazprom and N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie signed a memorandum of understanding on their strategic partnership. Under the document, the companies will work together to make natural gas deliveries to the European market more flexible and respond more effectively to the seasonal fluctuations of demand on the market of final consumers. The companies will also exchange experience in gas transportation network management and maintenance, and other areas.
The Netherlands imported about 4 billion cubic meters of gas in 2005.
