Russ Oil-Gas

MOSCOW, June 9, 2009 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom is holding talks with independent gas producer Novatek on its possible participation in a liquefied natural gas project in northwest Siberia, a Gazprom deputy CEO said on Tuesday. Alexander Medvedev said Gazprom will prepare a project feasibility study in early 2010 for LNG production on the Yamal Peninsula. The Yamal LNG plant will process the gas condensate resources from the Tambeiskoye field. Gazprom holds licenses to develop 26 Yamal fields (with total reserves exceeding 10 trillion cubic meters). It plans to annually produce 250 billion cubic meters of gas there. World markets could experience a shortage of liquefied natural gas by 2014 as some producers have delayed their LNG projects due to the global economic crisis, Medvedev said. Gazprom estimates that despite the current economic problems, global demand for LNG will grow at an annual rate of 6-8% to reach about 500-800 million metric tons by 2030, Medvedev said.