Gas bursts out of deposits

Sergey Kondratiev, Principal Director on Economic Studies at the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Kommersant newspaper on the implementation of new LNG projects in Russia.

Leonid Mikhelson, the head of NOVATEK, proposed changing the law on the natural gas export in order to stimulate the LNG production in Russia.

Sergey Kondratiev believes that this is a new attempt to limit the export monopoly of Gazprom, which could be beneficial to all independent gas producers, including Rosneft and Lukoil.

“Among the possible options for consensus is the issue of paying for the connection / expansion of the GTS to supply gas to such LNG plants and higher transportation tariffs for such gas,” he said. The analyst adds that such liberalization, if it takes place, may lead to equalization of tax conditions in terms of the amount of gas production tax (it is much lower for independent producers), “if there is no link to a specific field, then there is no need to provide benefits”.