BASF agrees to enter Russia-led South Stream: Putin

MOSCOW: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday said that German chemical giant BASF had agreed to enter the Russian-led South Stream gas pipeline project and that the German leadership supported the project.

"I am very pleased that you find it suitable to enter South Stream," Putin said moments before chief executives of Russia's Gazprom and Germany's BASF signed a preliminary agreement paving the way for Wintershall, the hydrocarbon subsidiary of Germany's chemical giant, to enter the Russian-led project. Putin added that he was "especially pleased" that German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported the German firm's decision to become part of the project.