Russia sees expanding LNG market

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MOSCOW, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the market for liquefied natural gas from Russia is outpacing traditional resources.

Russia is the largest natural gas producer in the world. Its ability to reach overseas markets with LNG is limited to one plant that's controlled by a Gazprom-led consortium.

Novak told Russian news agency RT that the LNG market was expanding quickly.

"The LNG market is developing fast and we forecast the consuming power to grow by 4-6 percent annually, while traditional gas consuming market is expected to grow by 2 percent until 2030," he said. "New technologies allow liquidizing gas and shipping it to any part of the world."

Russia's state-run Rosneft and independent gas producer Novatek aim to break Gazprom's hold on the LNG market as it expands.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was calling on lawmakers to think about a "step-by-step" process to liberalize the LNG market, RT adds.

Gazprom in January said it set up a joint venture with Novatek for the production of LNG from the Yamal Peninsula.