Gazprom concerned about losing gas export monopoly
MOSCOW. April 23 (Interfax) - Gazprom feels its export monopoly is under threat from independent gas producers in Russia's East, an official at the Russian gas giant said.
"There are a lot of mere assertions that there is a huge under-utilized resource potential in East Siberia and the Far East. The Asian market, these people say, is colossal - 800 billion cubic meters in China alone. Everybody should have the right to freely develop it all. We're latecomers to the market. But I'll assure you, these are craft assertions and are being made to upset the single export outlet," Viktor Timoshilov, head the department for coordinating Gazprom's Eastern projects, told reporters.
"In fact we need a single balance for production and sales as much as ever. There's no longer any resource risk in the East - there's enough proven reserves to meet domestic and external demand. There are market risks, including Chinese risks, which need to be treated with great care. Gazprom is in talks to supply 38 bcm along the Eastern route. We are ready to supply more, but the buyer can't yet confirm it is ready for such a lot," Timoshilov said.
"The law on the single pipeline gas outlet needs to be preserved. It has shown its effectiveness in the West and it should continue to apply in the East, because only one company is negotiating with us from that side," he said.
Russia has already liberalized liquefied gas exports, but Timoshilov said he did not think the state should leave the initiative of companies looking to build new LNG plants unattended. He again criticized Rosneft's to build the Far Eastern LNG plant, which he said would cost $10 billion-$15 billion.