* Energy minister says South Stream gas project is under way
* Says international oil and gas majors stick to business inRussia (Releads, adds detail, quotes)
By Anastasia Lyrchikova
MOSCOW, April 18 (Reuters) - Russian and international oiland gas majors are cooperating as usual despite sanctionsimposed over Ukraine and Russia's South Stream gas pipelineproject is going ahead, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said onFriday.
"There is no sense behind talk of the severing ofrelations... They express their desire to invest in Russia,"Novak told reporters when asked if sanctions had hit energycooperation.
The world's top crude oil producer and a leader in naturalgas, Russia has signed deals with international majors ondeveloping energy resources, mainly in the offshore Arcticregion.
Top Russian oil firm Rosneft has signed agreementswith ExxonMobil, Eni and Statoil andits biggest shareholder after the state is London-based BP.
BP boss Bob Dudley said this week that Western sanctionsover Russia's actions in Ukraine had not impacted the company'sbusiness in Russia.
Ben van Beurden, the new boss of Royal Dutch Shell,which holds a stake in Russia's only liquefied natural gasproducing plant, is scheduled to meet Russian President VladimirPutin on Friday in a sign of the company's commitment to itsbusiness in the country.
SOUTH STREAM
The minister also said the 2,400-kilometre (1,490-mile)South Stream pipeline from Russia via the Black Sea to southernEurope, avoiding Ukraine, would proceed.
"The project is being implemented on the basis of agreementsbetween the countries. According to international law, theseagreements cannot be suspended. We have been in consultationswith the European Commission over South Stream, the work isgoing on," Novak said.
Doubts have been raised about the future of the projectsince Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, a movethat has angered both the EU and Washington.
The EU's approvals process regarding South Stream has beenput on hold, European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettingersaid.
Hoping to build the pipeline is a consortium includingRussian gas exporter Gazprom as well as Europeanpartners Wintershall, Eni and EDF.
South Stream is designed to carry more than 63 billion cubicmetres of gas to Europe a year by the end of the decade, meetingup to 15 percent of Europe's needs. (writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Alessandra Prenticeand Jason Neely)
