Russian gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) may invite foreign partners to develop the Sakhalin-3 and Sakhalin-4 projects in Russia's Far East, the company's Deputy Chief Executive Valery Golubev said Wednesday.

Foreign energy companies might be involved in the Sakhalin projects on a "financial, technological and to some extent operating level," Golubev said.

Gazprom will seek to spread the risks connected with development of the challenging offshore projects and "it might be necessary to draw on expertise along the same lines as Shtokman," Golubev said.

The state-controlled company invited France's Total S.A. (TOT) and Norway's StatoilHydro ASA (STO) as minority partners in the giant Shtokman field in the Barents Sea. Gazprom, however, kept the ownership rights to all reserves at the field.

Gazprom already holds a controlling stake in the Sakhalin-2 project, which has Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and the Japanese firms Mitsubishi Corp. (8058.TO) and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (8031.TO) as minority partners.

Company Web site: www.gazprom.ru

-By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 937 8445; jacob.pedersen@dowjones.com