Moscow, 22 November, 2007- Eni and Gazprom signed today in Moscow a further agreement related the South Stream project, in which the parties agreed to use a joint special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the commissioning of the marketing and technical feasibility studies of the project.

The new structure will be governed by a shareholders agreement. The two partners, after months of work which also involved Saipem, acknowledged the achievement of the preliminary studies and have agreed to commission the detailed feasibility work as soon as possible.

The today's agreement is a further significant step for the implementation of this strategic project for the Russian and European gas market.

Eni and Gazprom, together with the Italian and Russian governments, will develop top level discussions with the governments of the transit countries of the South Stream pipeline and possible other partners in the coming months.

In its offshore section, the South Stream will cross the Black Sea from the Russian coast of Beregovaya - the same starting point of the Blue Stream pipeline - to the Bulgarian coast, with a 900-km pipeline reaching a maximum water depth of more than 2,000 metres. For the onshore section two different routes from Bulgaria are being studied: a route towards northwest and one towards southwest.

Eni and Gazprom will carry out the project using the most advanced technologies in full respect of the strictest environmental criteria. This project represents an important and substantial contribution towards strengthening the security of European energy supply.

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