Yatec expects deal on LNG exports with Gazprom by April

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Yakutsk Fuel and Energy Company (Yatec) hopes to struck a gas export liquefied natural (LNG) deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom by April, Yatec CEO Andrei Korobov said in an interview to the Energeticheskaya Politika (Energy Policy) magazine published on Tuesday.

“The negotiations are going on. There is serious reason to believe that we will do it with Gazprom … We expect to reach a solution … in a few coming months, most probably in the first quarter,” he said.

In September, Korobov said that Yatec was considering LNG exports either through amending the current gas export law or through an agent agreement with Gazprom Export, which Yatec was already in talks monitored by the Energy Ministry.

Yatec is building the Yakutsk LNG plan with a production capacity of 18 million tonnes per year. To cover the need in natural gas, the company plans to expand its reserves to 0.5 trillion cubic meters of gas in a few coming years and to 1 trillion cubic meters in the future.

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