MOSCOW, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Russian energy company Rosneft said the most efficient way to capitalize on Far East reserves is through liquefied natural gas.
Rosneft and U.S. energy company Exxon Mobil plan through 2014 to complete design work for a LNG facility in Russia's Far East.
"Given the fact that offshore fields are difficult to reach and are not connected to the national gas supply system, the most efficient way to monetize these resources is to liquefy the natural gas and sell the LNG in export markets," Rosneft President Igor Sechin said in a statement Wednesday.
The Russian energy company said most of its "massive hydrocarbon resource potential" exists as natural gas in offshore license areas.
Rosneft said it expected to make the first LNG deliveries to Asian markets by 2018. Asian economies are taking on more energy resources because of economic expansion. Japan started taking on more natural gas to shore up an energy deficit from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011.
Swiss energy trading company Vitol in June it signed a deal with Rosneft to secure LNG from the region.
