Novatek finalises Yamal LNG project: Gazprom beware… | beyondbrics

Novatek finalises Yamal LNG project: Gazprom beware… | beyondbrics:

"Novatek has taken a final investment decision on the Yamal LNG project, paving the way for the launch of the pioneering liquefied natural gas venture in the Russian Arctic.

Legal amendments approved by the Russian parliament last month allowing rivals of Gazprom to export LNG are working wonders for Russia’s pushy independent gas producer.

Novatek, controlled by billionaires Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko, has been challenging Gazprom’s supremacy, first by grabbing a larger share of the Russian domestic gas market and then lobbying for rights to export liquefied natural gas.

Russian parliament passed a bill last month allowing independent LNG producers to chip away at Gazprom’s gas export monopoly and trade liquefied natural gas overseas. Gazprom retains the right to handle all Russia’s pipeline gas exports.

Russia competes with the US for the title of the world’s top gas producer but has fallen behind in the surging global LNG business. So far the Gazprom-controlled Sakhalin II project is the country’s only large LNG venture."

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