The chief executive of Italian oil company Eni SpA Paolo Scaroni met Tuesday Russian PM Igor Sechin and Gazprom CEO Alexander Milller.
The purpose of visit was connected with a call option Gazprom has on a 20 percent stake held by Eni in Gazpromneft which expires in April and has been valued at about $4.3 billion.
The official statement by Gazprom said that Scaroni and Miller discussed the development of the joint venture South Stream.
The meetings came right after Russia broke off talks with Ukraine because Kiev had asked the European Union to modernise its pipeline network which carries 80 percent of Russian gas supplies to Europe.
Author: Ksenia Kochneva
