State Duma rejects bill allowing Pechora LNG to export LNG

MOSCOW, Feb 14 (PRIME) -- Russia’s State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, on Wednesday rejected a bill to allow Rosneft to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its major LNG project, Pechora LNG.

Current law stipulates that Yamal LNG and Rosneft and gas giant Gazprom are allowed to export LNG. But the law came in force on December 1, 2013, while Pechora LNG received its license after the date, becoming the only LNG project in Russia that is not allowed to export LNG.

Previously, the State Duma’s energy committee voted for rejection of the bill, saying that it is unreasonable in its current edition. The committee’s Head Pavel Zavalny said that the government had approved the previous LNG export law due to the risks of contraction of natural gas exports to Europe on the background of the crisis in Ukraine and cancellation of the South Stream project.

But now Russia is building the Nord Stream-2 and TurkStream natural gas pipelines, and has agreements on prolongation of the gas transit via Ukraine after 2019, which makes the permit for Pechora LNG exports redundant and the project unreasonable, Zavalny said.

The Pechora LNG project implies development of the Kumzhinskoye and Korovinskoye fields in the Nenets Autonomouos District.

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