French oil and gas major Total SA (TOT) Wednesday confirmed an agreement in principle to buy 49% of OAO Novatek's (NVTK.RS) Terneftegas unit, and plans to develop a Russian gas field jointly with Novatek.

Terneftegas holds a license to develop the offshore Termokarstovoye gas and condensates field, which has the potential to produce over 47.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas and about 10.3 million metric tons of condensate, Total said in a statement.

Total didn't say how much it would pay for the stake.

-By Adam Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 40171756; adam.mitchell@dowjones.com