State Duma in first reading adopts bill on liberalizing LNG exports from number of fields
MOSCOW. May 16 (Interfax) - The State Duma in the first reading has adopted a bill allowing the export of natural and associated gas in liquefied form (LNG) from sites wholly or partially located north of 67 degrees north latitude, and the regulation concerns companies with state participation exceeding 50%.
The government submitted bill No. 310889-8 to parliament in March.
"Gas fields located north of 67 degrees north latitude in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (YNAD), are significantly removed from the Unified Gas Supply System (UGSS); therefore, gas monetization from the fields is economically feasible only through the production of LNG," according to the explanatory note. According to the authors, adopting the law should render it possible to monetize large gas reserves and create conditions for increasing the production and export of LNG from promising projects.
Deputy Energy Minister Anastasia Bondarenko specified earlier that the latest regulation would specifically concern 36 fields of Rosneft in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and the Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets districts.
Bondarenko said that it was possible to export gas in LNG form from all the fields of Gazprom and its wholly owned subsidiaries, which concerns about 190 fields. Bondarenko also recalled that after a number of amendments had been introduced to the law "On Gas Exports" in 2012-2013, Rosneft; Gazprom Export; and the Novatek companies of Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 2, Arctic LNG 1, and Arctic LNG 3; as well as Gazprom Gazonefteprodukt Holding [small scale LNG], also received the right to export LNG.
Bondarenko noted that gas was already being exported in LNG form from the projects of Yamal LNG, Cryogas-Vysotsk [a Novatek subsidiary], Sakhalin-2 [Gazprom holds the controlling stake], and from the plant at the Portovaya compressor station of Gazprom LNG Portovaya LLC.
According to comments from the State Duma energy committee, the potential natural gas reserves of the Yamal Peninsula and the Gydan Peninsula, YNAD, exceed 20 trillion cubic meters, according to current estimates, which could allow producing up to 140 million tonnes of LNG per year.
"Commissioning new LNG clusters going forward should create the possibility of substantially boosting gas exports and securing about a 20% share of the global LNG market for Russia," according to the energy committee's comment.
If adopted, the law will enter into force 10 days after its official publication.