Second biggest Russian oil producer Yukos said on Friday it had signed a co-operation agreement with gas trader Itera.
The agreement on output, transportation and marketing of natural gas concerns potential fields in Siberia.
"Co-operation with Itera is in line with Yukos's long-term strategy of becoming a fully integrated energy company," Yukos president Yuri Byelin said in a statement.
Itera president Valery Otcherkov said Itera wanted to widen its geographical customer base and get involved in gas production in different areas.
He restated that the company wants to be producing 80 billion cubic metres of gas within the next seven to 10 years, up from current levels of 17.9 billion, and that it will invest $1.5 billion.
Florida-registered Itera has risen to a multi-million dollar firm in the space of nine years selling gas from Russia's monopoly, Gazprom , and Turkmenistan.
Russian and international media and some Gazprom shareholders have cast sceptical eyes on Itera's rapid success, suspecting direct ties between managers and the transfer of assets on the cheap.
But a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report presented to Gazprom's board at the end of July said no laws had been broken, although it said the ties between the two companies were exclusive and beneficial for Itera.
Reuters
