"I see this as a positive development," Kirsten Westphal, an energy expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a Berlin-based think tank, told United Press International in a telephone interview Monday. "It shows that Nord Stream is a European project."

Sebastian Sass, the Nord Stream envoy to the European Union, last week said the French utility giant was in early negotiations with the Nord Stream project shareholders. They include Russian energy giant Gazprom, Eon Ruhrgas and Wintershall from Germany as well as Gasunie from the Netherlands. "I can confirm that the other shareholders are positive about this interest" from GDF Suez, Sass was quoted by EurActiv as saying.

Westphal said the interest from GDF Suez, the owners of the biggest gas network in Europe, makes sense.

"With GDF Suez' entry, France would get additional security in receiving gas from Russia via Germany, which is turning into a European hub for gas from Russia," Westphal said. "And it's also a chance for GDF Suez to make money."

France is also interested in joining Nord Stream because it was recently ousted from Nabucco because of Turkish objections to its involvement, French daily Le Monde reports. The 2,000-mile pipeline is intended to bring 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Caspian Sea to Austria via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

A GDF Suez entry in Nord Stream would mean that the German companies involved further reduce their stakes in the project, because Gazprom is unwilling to reduce its 51 percent majority stake.

Wintershall and Eon Ruhrgas own 20 percent each, and an earlier entry by Gasunie, today a 9 percent shareholder, saw the Germans giving off 4.5 percent each. Experts say that will likely happen again if a deal with GDF Suez is signed.

Nord Stream is a planned 758-mile natural gas pipeline directly linking Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing transit countries in Eastern and Central Europe. It is designed to eventually deliver up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, enough for around 25 million households.

Nord Stream has been mentioned by the European Commission as a priority energy project but has run into opposition from individual European states, including Poland and the Baltic countries. Moreover, environmental concerns have delayed the permitting process.

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