MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) has signed its first contract to supply Russian natural gas to Denmark, the gas giant said Monday.
"On June 16, First Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev and Kurt Bligard Pedersen, executive vice president of DONG Energy (Denmark), signed the first agreement on Russian gas supplies to Denmark," Gazprom said in a press release.
Under the contract, gas shipments to Denmark will begin in 2011 via the multibillion-dollar North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP), being built by Gazprom and Germany's BASF AG and E.ON AG under a joint venture in which Gazprom holds a 51% stake and the German companies 24.5% each.
DONG Energy will buy 1 billion cubic meters of gas a year for a period of 20 years.
The NEGP is important for Russia as the pipeline will pump gas from the giant Shtokman gas condensate deposit in the Barents Sea and possibly from other gas deposits in the north, making them attractive for investment. The first leg of the pipeline is set to come on-stream in 2010.
