MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Gazprom [RTS: GAZP]. and Italy's Eni have signed a strategic partnership agreement giving the Russian energy giant access to Italy's natural gas market, the companies said in a joint news release Tuesday.
Under the agreement, starting in 2007 Gazprom will be able to ship natural gas directly to the Italian market in volumes of up to 3 billion cubic meters by 2010.
The agreement extends current gas delivery contracts until 2035.
The two companies have also agreed to implement investment projects in gas prospecting and production in Russia and third countries, as well as developing new gas transportation routes.
Italy's natural gas market is the third largest in Europe, after the U.K. and Germany. In 2005 Italy met about 86% of its gas needs through imports, mostly from Algeria and Russia.
Sergei Kupriyanov, a spokesman for Gazprom, said earlier Tuesday the company often faces obstacles when trying to gain access to foreign markets, adding that two reasons basically explain the situation, one subjective and the other objective.
"The subjective reason is that the image of Gazprom and Russia is pretty negative [abroad]," Kupriyanov said. "The objective reason is that when such possibilities arise, when a new and powerful major player supported by ample resources appears and begins to relate differently to local companies of long standing, when a company like Gazprom suddenly appears out of nowhere and begins speaking of global ambitions, then naturally those local companies will not like it."
Western authorities have often criticized Russia for blackmailing its former Soviet neighbors using Gazprom, particularly after Russia cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine in January of this year in a dispute over gas prices.
Foreign countries have consistently said that Russia must improve its political situation and the transparency of its corporate management if it wants to see Russian companies operating on foreign markets.
