Russia's Gazprom has signed an agreement on crediting for the Blue Stream gas pipeline project with banks in Italy, Germany and Japan.

Blue Stream Pipeline Company is the borrower for the undersea segment of the pipeline and Gazprom is the borrower for the onshore segment. Banca Commerciale Italiana, Medio Credito Cetrante, WestDeutsche Landes Bank, Fuji Bank, and a Japanese consortium made up of Itochu, Mitsui, and Sumitomo organized project financing. A credit under guarantee of Italian export crediting agency SACE will be used to finance the contract signed last November with Italy's SAIPEM on turnkey construction, and to finance purchases in Italy of pipeline and equipment for the onshore segment. Gazprom and Gazexport are guaranteeing the credit and are using revenues on future exports of gas to Italy as security. Blue Stream involves construction of a pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey with capacity to ship 8 billion - 16 billion cubic meters a year. Gas deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter next year. The pipeline consists of three segments: 370 kilometers from Izobilnoye to Dzhubga in Russia, 392.3 kilometers across the Black Sea from Dzhubga to Samsun, and 440 kilometers from Samsun to Ankara in Turkey.