UPDATE 1-Total sees Shtokman investment at $4-5 bln -report

(Reuters) - Gazprom chose Total as development partner on Thursday in a
sign of closer Moscow-Paris ties, but the move left questions
over how good a deal the French group had won.




Under the deal, Total will receive a 25 percent stake in the
company that will build and own the pipes, rigs and other
infrastructure for the first phase of Shtokman's development.
Asked whether not holding a stake in the production license
was risky, de Margerie said: "A group like ours wishes for a
remuneration that corresponds to the risks taken and the work
that has been made."


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Gazprom Expects Record Gas Export Sales to Europe This Year, Medvedev Says

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled
natural-gas export monopoly, will set ``another record'' for sales
to Europe this year, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander
Medvedev told reporters in Moscow today.

The price for European customers will probably average $250 to
$260 per 1,000 cubic meters this year, compared with $260.70 last
year, Medvedev said. He didn't say what volume the company plans to
ship to Europe this year.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Gazprom May Thwart Putin's Drive for Russian Dominance in Gas, Oil Output

(Bloomberg) -- Four corporate heavyweights are arrayed
before Russian President Vladimir Putin in his Kremlin office. Sitting
across a white oval table from Putin are Shoei Utsuda and Yorihiko
Kojima, chief executive officers of Japan's largest trading companies,
Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp.; Jeroen van der Veer, head of Royal
Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil producer; and Putin's old
friend, OAO Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller. The purpose of the Dec. 21,
2006, confab: to seal a deal made earlier that day in which
Gazprom, the giant state-run gas company, will take control of
Sakhalin-2, a $22 billion oil and gas project on Sakhalin Island in
the Russian Far East.

Van der Veer and the Japanese executives make a show of
endorsing Gazprom's participation in Sakhalin-2, until now the
biggest totally foreign-owned energy venture in Russia. ``Thank you
very much for your support on this historic day,'' van der Veer
says to Putin in remarks captured on camera and posted on the
Kremlin's Web site. ``Gazprom is very welcome as a partner in our
project.''


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Russian Indexes Decline Amid IPOs, Political Concerns; Gazprom Retreats

(Bloomberg) -- Russian stocks fell, led by OAO
Gazprom and OAO Unified Energy System, following a series of new
share sales and on political concerns after Russia said it
wouldn't extradite a murder suspect to Britain.

The ruble-denominated Micex Index dropped 1.9 percent to
1614.83 at 2:15 p.m. in Moscow as 29 of the index's 30 stocks
fell. The dollar-based RTS Index sank 1.4 percent to 1834.36.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

SA, Russia explore energy ties

South Africa is considering helping Russian state oil firm Rosneft and gas giant Gazprom in making liquid fuel from natural gas or coal, a cabinet minister said on Monday.

South Africa's Mining and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said that PetroSA officials would hold technical talks on its gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology with the two Russian firms, which are in the early stages of exploring synthetic fuel production.

Read more at FIN24.co.za