EUROPEAN oil giants BP Plc and Total SA have sold their stakes in the Medgaz natural gas pipeline to other shareholders in a project that plans to link Spain and Algeria.

Luis Javier Navarro, chairman of BP's Spanish unit, declined to say how much the company received for its stake. He was interviewed on Saturday by Bloomberg News on the sidelines of a conference in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Patricia Marie, a spokeswoman for Total in Paris, confirmed the company's sale.

"The other partners will be pleased to get a bigger stake in the project given the importance that the pipe will have for Spain's gas supply," said Luis Benguerel, a trader at Interbrokers in Barcelona.

Spain is Western Europe's fastest-growing market for the fuel as the government makes gas-fired power plants a key part of plans to meet power demand over the next two decades. The European Union is seeking to boost gas links with North Africa to curb dependence on imports from Russia.

Medgaz is designed to bring eight billion cubic meters of gas a year from Algeria's gas fields, about a third of Spain's current demand. The project includes a 200-kilometer underwater section.

It has been planned since 2001 and if approved will be built by the end of 2009.

Algeria's state-owned oil company Sonatrach and Cia Espanola de Petroleos SA, or Cepsa, Spain's second-biggest oil company, each hold 20 percent of the Medgaz project. Endesa SA, Gaz de France SA and Iberdrola SA each hold 12 percent. Total owns 49 percent of Cepsa.

Sonatrach Chairman Mohamed Meziane said in an interview on Saturday that the estimated 600 million euro (US$799.5 million) cost of the project may rise "a little bit." The group will meet on December 14 and December 21 to discuss final investment figures, he said.

BP sold the stake due to "internal strategic reasons," Navarro said. "We are not ruling out reconsidering new investments in this project in the future if the opportunity arises."