MILAN, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Russian and French leaders are set to sign a memorandum of understanding for the entry of France's EDF into the South Stream gas pipeline project, Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said on Thursday.
Italian oil and gas group Eni and Russian gas giant Gazprom are joint partners in South Stream.
Speaking to reporters in Milan, Scaroni said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and French President Nicholas Sarkozy would sign the MoU on Thursday.
Putin is due to meet French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Friday as part of an official visit to France, while Sarkozy is on a visit to Brazil.
"Putin is meeting Sarkozy today and the signing of a MoU (memorandum of understanding) is envisaged, paving the way for the entry of EDF into the South Stream project," Scaroni said.
Eni was not immediately available for a comment to clarify his statement.
Scaroni said the MoU also depended on the go-ahead from Eni.
"We are in principle in favour of expanding the shareholding to EDF since it should strengthen the project," he said.
South Stream, which will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic metres a year, will transport Russian gas into Europe, bypassing Ukraine. In January, a row between Ukraine and Moscow left European Union customers without gas.
The pipeline is expected to cost between 19 billion and 24 billion euros and become operational in 2015.
EDF said last month it was in talks with Gazprom to take a stake in the subsea section of the South Stream project.

(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach; Writing by Stephen Jewkes, Editing by Will Waterman and Jan Paschal) Keywords: ENI SOUTHSTREAM/ (stephen.jewkes@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 6612 9695; Reuters Messaging: stephen.jewkes@reuters.com@reuters.net)

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