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MOSCOW, October 18 The State Duma adopted a law allowing the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to subsoil users in the Arctic part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. According to the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the change will affect about 36 Rosneft fields.
The document was developed by the government in order to stimulate the production and export of liquefied natural gas and increase Russia’s share in the global LNG market. It will allow increasing annual LNG production volumes to 100 million tons in the next seven years and more actively using the capacity of Arctic routes for transporting LNG to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin previously explained. And Deputy Head of the Ministry of Energy Anastasia Bondarenko drew attention to the fact that existing restrictions prevent the monetization of large gas reserves in territories significantly remote from the Unified Gas Supply System.
< br />In this regard, the new law provides the exclusive right to export LNG to users of onshore subsoil areas located wholly or partially north of 67 degrees north latitude. We are talking about Arctic gas fields in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Moreover, the state's share in the authorized capital of such subsoil users must be more than 50%. This change concerns about 36 fields that now belong to Rosneft, Bondarenko explained.
The document also removes from the scope of the Law “On Gas Export” operations for bunkering water vessels with liquefied natural gas. According to the explanatory note, this will stimulate the use of LNG as bunker fuel, which is a more environmentally friendly alternative fuel for sea and river vessels.
The law should come into force 10 days after official publication and facilitate the implementation of such Rosneft projects, like «Taimyr LNG» and «Kara LNG».
Currently, the right to export LNG in Russia belongs to Gazprom (which has a monopoly on the export of pipeline gas), as well as companies with state participation of more than 50%, implementing projects on liquefaction of natural gas from offshore fields or from fields within the framework of a PSA. In addition, Novatek exports LNG on the basis of the right of user of the subsoil plot, the license for which was issued before January 1, 2013 and provided for the production of liquefied natural gas.
In total, according to the government order of 2014, the right to export LNG has Gazprom, Gazprom Export, Gazprom Gas Oil Product Holding, Rosneft, as well as Novatek's subsidiaries — Yamal LNG, Arctic LNG 1, Arctic LNG 2 and Arctic LNG 3 .