French energy company GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) expects to finalize a deal that will grant it a 9% stake in the Baltic Sea gas pipeline project Nord Stream within the coming weeks, Jean-Francois Cirelli, the company's vice chairman and president, said Friday.

"We're hoping to finalize the deal in the coming weeks; if possible at the St. Petersburg gas forum in June," Cirelli said on the sidelines of a gas conference in Berlin .

GDF Suez has been in talks with Russian natural gas monoploy OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) for months now seeking to take a 9% stake in the Nord Stream project.

Gazprom owns 51% in Nord Stream. E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) and BASF SE's (BAS.XE) oil and gas exploration and production unit Wintershall AG of Germany each own just under 25%.

The German shareholders have said they're generally willing to cede some of their shares to GDF Suez.

At the Berlin gas conference Bernhard Reutersberg, chief executive of E.ON's core gas unit E.ON Ruhrgas, said it was difficult to predict a specific date for sealing the deal between GDF Suez and the Nord Stream consortium.

However, "the talks are now mostly concluded and only details need to be resolved in the coming weeks," Reutersberg said.

He added, that the Nord Stream partners are looking to sign the deal at an event at which all shareholders will be present.

GDF Suez's Cirelli also said that talks with Gazprom over renegotiating conditions of long-term gas supplies are still ongoing.

He declined to elaborate, but said the talks are aimed at addressing the current trading conditions on the natural gas market.
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