Abu Dhabi National Energy Company had agreed with Russia's Gazprom to jointly develop a gas storage project in the Netherlands.

It follows a memorandum of understanding between the companies signed in December 2008.

Gazprom will provide cushion gas for the project, which is necessary to ensure the reservoir has optimal pressure to start storage activities, in exchange for working capacity and a participating interest in the operator of the facility.

Taqa said in a statement that the agreement is conditional upon a final investment decision for the project, which is expected to be reached in coming months.

Taqa is working on the Bergermeer project with developers Dyas, Energie Beheer Nederland and Petro Canada. They aim to use a depleted gas reservoir north of Amsterdam for storage with a working volume of around 4 billion cubic meter and an extra 4.6 billion cubic meter of cushion gas to control the pressure.

It said that construction of the facility is expected to start in 2010 and it should be operational by 2013.

(Sourced from Reuters)