RusEnergy

03-24-2009 - Upstream OnLine - Eni boss Paolo Scaroni met Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin today and is set to meet Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller, according to sources. Eni and Gazprom have joint operations and meet periodically. Gazprom has a call option on a 20% stake held by Eni in Gazpromneft which expires in April and has been valued at about $4.3 billion. A Gazprom source told Reuters Scaroni was meeting Miller, but would not disclose the subject of their conversation. Scaroni earlier met Sechin, another company source told the news agency. The meetings came as Russia broke off talks with Ukraine after Kiev angered the Kremlin by asking the EU to modernise its pipeline network. The grid carries 80% of Russian gas supplies to Europe.