European Union leaders have agreed to push for a legally binding deal with Moscow that would guarantee energy for the EU and a steady income for Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is confident Europe and Russia will be able to find a common approach on trade and investment in oil and gas.
The pact would come as part of a new strategic partnership which the EU wants to start negotiating this year.
He was speaking after EU leaders pressed him to agree to binding rules on energy relations, over dinner at a summit in southern Finland.
EU leaders hope to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept the idea over dinner at their summit in Lahti, southern Finland.
Mr Putin also told reporters at the EU summit in Finland that there was a risk of bloodshed in Georgia.
Russia supplies a quarter of the oil and gas consumed in the European Union.
He called on Georgia to calm relations with Russian-backed breakaway regions.
On energy resources with Russia we aim to build a closer, legally binding partnership based on mutually balanced long-term benefits Finnish PM Matti Vanhanen The leaders will also call on Russia to find the killer of the journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, and may discuss recent tensions between Russia and Georgia.
Russia supplies a quarter of the oil and gas consumed in the European Union, and the proportion is set to rise sharply in coming decades.
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the EU leaders achieved "unity" over their approach to the meeting with Mr Putin.
I am quite confident that we will be in a position to develop common approaches Vladimir Putin EU leaders have long been trying to persuade Russia to sign up to the 1991 Energy Charter Treaty, without success.
"On energy resources with Russia we aim to build a closer, legally binding partnership based on mutually balanced long-term benefits," he said.
But Mr Putin suggested that Russia could agree to many of the charter's principles when negotiations begin in the next few weeks on a new strategic partnership with the EU.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "If we are going to have this two-way trade with Russia (on energy supply) there have to be clear rules that are obeyed on both sides."
"We are not against the principles that are included in the charter, but we believe that that certain provisions of the charter should be defined better," he said.
'Good atmosphere'
"I am quite confident that we will be in a position to develop common approaches," he said.
EU leaders want to avoid a situation where Russia sells energy to one EU country on one set of terms and to another on less advantageous terms.
'Reciprocity'
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said the two sides needed to develop mutual trust.
"That requires transparency, the rule of law, reciprocity, non-discrimination, market opening and market access," he said.
They also want European investors to have the same access to the Russian energy market as Russian companies have to Europe's market, and the ability to use Russian pipelines to export any gas and oil they produce in Russia.
The EU wants European investors to have the same access to the Russian energy market as Russian companies have to Europe's market, and the ability to use Russian pipelines to export any gas and oil they produce in Russia.
A paper prepared for the summit by the European Commission also stressed the importance of increasing energy imports from the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian, Middle East and Gulf regions.
European governments have recently raised concerns about the treatment of some European energy investors attempting to develop oil and gas resources in Russia.
The issue became a major priority for the EU after Russia briefly cut off gas to Ukraine in January in a dispute over payment.
Energy security became a major priority for the EU after Russia briefly cut off gas to Ukraine in January, in a dispute over payment.
A Russian official quoted by Reuters said Mr Putin was ready to address European concerns about energy and that Moscow expected the discussion would take place in the "traditional good atmosphere".
A paper prepared for the summit by the European Commission stressed the importance of increasing energy imports from the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian, Middle East and Gulf regions.
Immigration
'Bloodshed'
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Dutch counterpart Jan Peter Balkenende urged their fellow leaders to put climate change at the centre of their discussions in an open letter published on Thursday.
The EU leaders said before the summit they would make clear their hopes that Russia would be able to find the killer of the murdered journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.
They said only 10 to 15 years remained before a "catastrophic tipping point" was reached.
On Georgia, Mr Putin said that Russia had not started the latest round of tensions between the two countries.
The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, also said in Lahti that the European Union needed to make new efforts to get other countries involved in the struggle.
He called on the Georgian authorities to re-build their relations with two Russian-backed breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Other issues on the agenda at the informal summit included:
"This is what we are calling for. This is what we want... and that bloodshed will be avoided," he said.
Ways of improving innovation in Europe, turning inventions into new products, jobs and patents
A European Commission proposal for European Institute of Technology, which would pool Europe's resources and help universities and business collaborate
A plea from Spain and Italy for more help to deal with a large flow of African immigrants arriving by boat
The problem of Darfur - the leaders called on Sudan to accept a UN peacekeeping force
Mr Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU presidency, has said he will raise the subject of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow earlier this month with Mr Putin.
"As you well know, we have from the EU side a demand to make a full investigation about the murder and we are expecting that Russian authorities can find the murderer," he said.
Human rights
The president of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, told reporters in Finland that the EU leaders must not let reliance on Russian energy deter them from voicing human rights concerns.
"There's a cash flow if you like and there's a gas flow if you like. We need the gas flow but I think the Russians also need the cash flow, because you can't eat gas. They need to sell it...
"I think there is a mutual dependence... I think Europe would lose credibility if we were to swap energy for human rights," he said.
Correspondents say it is possible that the leaders will also ask Mr Putin to explain his country's latest actions against Georgia.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told journalists he had been talking to Russia and Georgia "practically daily" trying to cool down the situation and to persuade their leaders to talk to each other.
