April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Italy plans to extend the Blue Steam pipeline that carries Russian natural gas under the Black Sea to Turkey, Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said, according to Russia Today.

Italy’s government is considering two routes for the extension, to Brindisi in the south and to Trieste in the north, the state-run English-language broadcaster said in an e-mailed statement, citing an interview late yesterday with Scajola.

“We could choose both routes, or one of the two,” Scajola was cited as saying. “Experts are working out the volumes for two branch pipelines. One will go through the narrowest point of the Adriatic Sea to the south of the country, and the other pipeline will extend to northern Italy.”

Eni SpA, Italy’s biggest energy company, and Russian gas exporter OAO Gazprom are partners in Blue Stream, which can carry as much as 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the link’s capacity may be expanded in order to supply Israel, state-run news service RIA Novosti reported April 3.

Eni in February requested European Union support for the South Stream pipeline, which would compete with the EU-backed Nabucco project to bring Caspian gas to southeast Europe via Turkey.

Gazprom and Eni in 2007 agreed to build South Stream, a pipeline from Russia to Bulgaria under the Black Sea that would bypass Turkey. Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said then that South Stream wouldn’t be “an alternative to the extension of Blue Stream, it will be a comprehensive system which will include all our export routes, from north to south.”

Eni Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni met Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller in Moscow yesterday to discuss broad energy cooperation, including South Stream, the Russian gas exporter said in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 7, 2009 01:21 EDT