Russia seeks to speed up South Stream with new deals

SOCHI, Russia, May 15 (Reuters) - Russia will on Friday sign deals with Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia to build a major gas link to Europe, South Stream, as it seeks to speed up work to outpace the key rival project, Nabucco.

Russia has long said it does not see Nabucco -- designed to export gas from Central Asia and the Caspian to Europe and ease the continent's heavy dependence on Russian gas -- as a rival project, although it adds there is not enough gas for both.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will travel to Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi to meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and both men will oversee the signing of a deal between energy majors Gazprom (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) and ENI (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research).

The two firms have already set up a 50/50 joint venture to build South Stream, which will start near Sochi, cross the Black Sea to reach Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Hungary and ultimately Italy with supplies of at least 30 billion cubic metres a year.

Russia is already supplying a quarter of Europe's gas needs with exports of 150 billion cubic metres a year and Gazprom's plans such as South Stream and Nord Stream in the Baltics have increased EU concerns it would become yet more dependent on Russia. (Reporting by Gleb Bryanski and Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Keiron Henderson)