OMV wants South Stream gas to run through Austria

VIENNA, April 17 (Reuters) - Austrian oil and gas group OMV (OMVV.VI) said on Thursday it hoped the Kremlin-backed South Stream gas pipeline project designed to pump Russian gas to Italy would run through its Baumgarten hub.

"We want to strengthen Baumgarten further," OMV Chief Executive Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said at a joint news conference with Gazprom (GAZP.MM) Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev.

"We are very interested that part of the South Stream gas will be pumped through Baumgarten," he said.

Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Monday that Russia's South Stream pipeline could transit via Slovenia instead of Austria to North Italy, commenting on a visit by Alexei Miller, head of Gazprom, to Ljubljana.

The pipeline, which will be jointly built by Gazprom and Italy's ENI (ENI.MI), will eventually take 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas a year under the Black Sea to southern Europe. (Reporting by Eva Komarek, writing by Karin Strohecker)