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14 November 2007 - E.ON, the world's largest utility by sales, is considering building power stations in the UK, Germany and Hungary with Gazprom, the Russian energy group.
Wulf Bernotat, chief executive of the German group, said a partnership with Gazprom would ensure adequate access to gas for the power plants. People close to E.ON said there were already concrete plans for a gas-powered plant in Germany near the Baltic Sea.
Such plans underline the closeness between the Russian group – seen in many parts of Europe as the bogeyman of global energy – and E.ON, which is the largest foreign shareholder in Gazprom. Earlier this week, Mr Bernotat said that the European Commission, which is debating breaking up utilities such as E.ON, posed a larger threat than Russia in energy matters.
The possibility of co-operation over power plants is largely linked to negotiations over E.ON's participation in the Gazprom-controlled Yushno Russkoye gas field in Siberia.
E.ON was also deciding whether to give Gazprom minority stakes in power plants in Italy, Germany, Hungary or the UK, Mr Bernotat said.
He added that the delays in the Siberian negotiations, which started several years ago, were due to Gazprom's management being distracted by discussions on other matters such as partnerships with Shell or BP. He said a deal with E.ON should be signed "soon".
The comments came as E.ON said it was doubling the amount of money it planned to invest in renewable energy to €6bn ($8.8bn). The original target was set at the end of May.
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