The two countries on Wednesday signed a raft of agreements -- key among which were those on energy -- during a historic visit to Africa's most populous nation by the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Russian energy giant Gazprom International immediately unveiled plans to build a possible first Trans-Saharan gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe, its chief Boris Ivanov said.

"If the Trans-Saharan gas project is ever realised, this will be the first trunk pipeline," Ivanov told reporters.

"The company has essentially started its work," he said, adding that those in at the start of such projects become "king."

The agreement signed between Gazprom International and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) "established a 50/50 joint venture which will pursue joint projects in oil, gas, gas processing and transportation, among other things," he said.

Medvedev, who was greeted with a machine-gun salute at President Umaru Yar'Adua's palm-lined villa in Abuja, expressed his hope that the deal will lead to opportunities for joint projects in energy processing and transportation.

"The basis for such work for years to come has been put in place today," Medvedev told reporters after their talks.

"The prospects are very good," he said. Russian potential investment in the Nigerian energy sector could be worth "billions of dollars."

Yar'Adua said that the signing "provides a great opportunity" for various energy projects.

Gazprom has admitted it is way behind its foreign competitors in Africa, but insists it is ready to mount a challenge to companies like Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil in Nigeria.

Medvedev noted that both Nigeria and Russia were at the root of moves to create a forum of Gas Exporting coutries and that the two countries will cooperate in this area in future.

"It is necessary to develop cooperation in the sphere of creating a system of global energy security," Medvedev said.

In a joint statement the two leaders said they would also enhance their cooperation in metallurgy.

Russia and Nigeria are "natural partners on energy" among the world's leading oil producers, Medvedev and Yar'Adua said after talks in the Nigerian administrative capital Abuja during Medvedev's one-day trip to the west African powerhouse.

"The two presidents underlined their firm intention to broaden economic ties, in particular through cooperation in the spheres of energy, metallurgy, oil and gas production," said the communique.

The agreements will "make us great partners in our coperation and mutual relationship," said Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Nigeria and Angola -- another stop on Medvedev's itinerary -- are competing for the title of the largest oil producer in Africa.

Moscow's ties with former client states came to a sudden halt with the Soviet collapse but the Kremlin has now emphasised its wish to revive relationships in Africa, rich in oil, gas, diamonds, metals and uranium.

Medvedev's predecessor Vladimir Putin was the first ever Kremlin leader to travel to sub-Saharan Africa when he visited South Africa and Morocco in 2006.

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