Gazprom Sets Out Plan to Supply LNG to U.S. in '05
By Eduard Gismatullin
Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, plans to start supplying liquefied natural gas to the United States as early as next year by swapping its fuel in Europe for LNG shipments to North America.
Gazprom has been in talks with companies operating in North Africa and Europe to provide gas in Europe in exchange for LNG in the United States.
The swaps may cover 3 billion to 5 billion cubic meters of gas in 2005. Gazprom didn't say who the partners were.
"We need partners to ship LNG under medium-term contracts between 2006 and 2009,'' Sergei Kupriyanov, a spokesman at Gazprom, said in a statement.
"After 2010, it will be our LNG that will be shipped under long-term contracts.''
Alexei Miller, Gazprom's chief executive, met executives at Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, the three largest U.S. oil producers, and Petro-Canada, Canada's third-biggest oil company, during his two-day visit to the United States this week, Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement.
He discussed development of the Shtokman field, which may need $10 billion of investment, and sales of LNG in North America.
Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of gas consumed in Europe, expects to start pumping gas from the Shtokman field in the Arctic in 2010. The offshore field has enough reserves to supply the United States for about four years.
The United States, which expects gas demand to grow 50 percent over the next 20 years, has been urging Gazprom to accelerate plans to build an LNG terminal in northwest Russia that could supply the fuel to the United States. Gazprom at the same time is looking for new markets outside Europe. |
