Slowly but surely, Novatek is breaking Gazprom’s gas monopoly | beyondbrics

Slowly but surely, Novatek is breaking Gazprom’s gas monopoly | beyondbrics:

"As Russia moves to liberalize liquefied natural gas exports, foreign companies are getting serious about buying gas from the Novatek-led Yamal LNG venture. In the space of just over one week both Chinese National Petroleum Corporation and Spanish Fenosa have signed up to take LNG from the groundbreaking venture that will end Gazprom’s monopoly on Russia’s foreign gas trade.

Novatek, Russia’s biggest independent gas producer, appears finally to be making headway in a campaign to strip Gazprom of its gas export privileges. A Russian government committee approved legislation to liberalize LNG exports this week. Officials say the new rules, allowing independents to ship LNG to foreign markets for the first time, will be implemented by the end of the year. Gazprom’s monopoly on pipeline gas exports will remain intact. “This is a very serious decision that, to a certain extent, does away with the monopoly on exports,” Dmitry Medvedev, Russian prime minister, told a government meeting."

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