LNG from Nigeria to Germany

E.ON AG's (NYSE:EONGY) Ruhrgas unit plans to import liquid natural gas (LNG) to Germany from Nigeria to lessen its dependence on Russian gas, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing Dietrich Gerstein, who is in charge of LNG purchasing at E.ON.

Nigeria may be the most important market in western Africa for E.ON Ruhrgas, Gerstein told the newspaper.

Iran, which also has a high priority for E.ON, is currently not a viable natural gas market for E.ON due to unfavorable political circumstances, he said.

Other countries which may be interesting the company are Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Mauritania, all of which have large natural gas reserves and are geographically close to Europea, he said.

Some 35 pct of natural gas in German last year came from Russia, Westdeutsche Allgemeine said.