Italy's Eni earlier announced plans to join the consortium.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed on Thursday that Ukraine consume technical gas through an international consortium that would buy the necessary volumes of gas for the resumption of transit to Europe from Gazprom.
Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev said the consortium currently included four members, including the Russian energy giant itself. He also said the consortium could accept new members, such as OMV, Gasterra and Wingas.
"The [consortium's founding] contract has already been prepared, and we expect to sign it before a gas summit scheduled for tomorrow," the official said.
The Russian and Ukrainian premiers, Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko, are to meet in Moscow on Saturday to try to resolve the dispute, which has affected households and industries in 18 EU countries, as well as several Balkan states. The Russian president has proposed a meeting with gas importers in Moscow for the same day.
Gazprom's Medvedev said the energy giant could sell technical gas to the consortium at $450 per 1,000 cubic meters.
"We would like to sell this gas at a market price, so we will sell it at $450," he said.
Gazprom said it received on Friday a fourth refusal from Naftogaz to transit 99.2 million cu m of Russian gas on to Europe. The Ukrainian company cited the absence of an agreement on the transfer of technical gas for 2009.
