RBTH: Russia to cancel Gazprom’s liquefied gas export monopoly

Liberalizing liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will take place on a legislative level once Novatek and Rosneft reach preliminary agreements with their international partners, according to Arkady Dvorkovich, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of fuel and energy. He predicted the changes would take place this year.

The government insists that the introduction of Novatek and Rosneft to overseas LNG markets shouldn't hurt Gazprom. The Ministry of Energy had proposed earlier that Gazprom’s rivals should be free to operate in all regions except Europe.

But then Dvorkovich announced a different option: “We want to be certain that we are not creating competition for Gazprom in specific markets; we will do that [cancel the monopoly] only with regard to agreements that we will see with our own eyes.”   MORE