Deputies introduce a bill on further liberalization of LNG exports to Russian Duma

MOSCOW. July 13 (Interfax) - A group of deputies has submitted amendments to the Law on Gas Exports to the State Duma, which expand the list of companies with the exclusive right to export liquefied natural gas.

The list of exporters would include companies carrying out investment projects for the production of more than 20 tonnes LNG per hour and which, at the same time, are included in the same group as organizations that already have the right to export LNG.

The bill, No. N400571-8, was added to the parliament's electronic database and was authored by a group of deputies, including Dmitry Kobylkin, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, and Maxim Topilin, chairman of the Economic Policy Committee.

Acting legislation grants the exclusive right to export LNG to Gazprom and its wholly owned subsidiaries. This covers about 190 fields, Deputy Russian Energy Minister Anastasia Bondarenko has said.

Export is allowed for a second group of developers of subsoil properties of federal significance, the license to which as of January 1, 2013 stipulates the construction of an LNG plant, as well as subsoil user companies affiliated with them with a license issued after January 1, 2013. Bondarenko said this referred in particular to projects by Novatek .

A third group with the right to export includes legal entities with a government stake of more than 50%, which are subsoil developers in internal sea waters, the territorial sea, the continental shelf of the Russian Federation and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

The bill submitted by the deputies proposes within the framework of a second subgroup to grant the right to export LNG to companies that implement investment projects for the production of LNG with a capacity of more than 20 tonnes per hour and which, at the same time, are in the same group as organizations that are already entitled to export LNG within the second group.

"The proposal is to enable LNG to be exported from LNG projects that are not linked to subsoil properties of federal significance, licenses for which state the natural gas extracted must be used for the production of LNG; and to enable LNG to be exported by legal entities that are in the same group as organizations that are already entitled to export LNG," explanatory materials say.