UPDATE 1-Russia's Gazprom starts trading natural gas in U.S.

* Initial operations to include gas swaps and LNG marketing

* Co will supply gas at several locations across the U.S. (Adds details)

MOSCOW Oct 1 (Reuters) - A unit of Russia's energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Thursday it had begun trading and marketing of natural gas in North America in a first foray into the United States by a Gazprom Group company.

Gazprom Marketing and Trading USA said initial operations are set to include gas swaps and liquefied natural gas (LNG) marketing.

It said it has acquired physical gas supplies from counterparties at pipeline hubs across North America by executing a number of long-term gas swap transactions that had allowed it to gain a substantial physical gas supply position.

"These gas swaps have given us a strong supply foundation to build our marketing and trading operations", John Hattenberger, President of Gazprom Marketing and Trading USA, said in a statement.

He added that the company had signed deals giving it more than 350 million cubic feet per day of physical supply to several different locations across the U.S. for the next three to seven years.

In May 2009, the company signed long-term agreements enabling it to buy LNG from the Russia's Sakhalin-2 LNG plant, regasify the LNG, transport it by pipeline to southern California, and sell natural gas into southwestern U.S. markets.

It also plans to sell LNG to the U.S. from Shtokman gasfield in the Arctic Barents Sea. Gazprom eventually aims to increase supply up to 10 percent of the world's biggest economy's gas needs (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by David Cowell)