Singapore eyes Gazprom's LNG

SINGAPORE, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Singapore sees Russian gas giant Gazprom as the possible sole supplier for liquefied natural gas when a contract with British Gas concludes, executives said.

Choo Chiau Beng, the head of Singapore's Keppel Corp., said he envisioned Gazprom as the exclusive supplier of LNG, RIA Novosti reports.

"In the future, Gazprom will become a supplier of energy carriers to Singapore, and we will try to provide it exclusive rights (to supply energy carriers to the country) when (our) cooperation with British Gas ends," he said.

In February, Russia opened its first LNG plant on Sakhalin Island to supply mostly Asian markets with natural gas from a nearby facility.

Japan will purchase about 65 percent of the LNG from Sakhalin. South Korea and the United States signed contracts with Russia for gas purchases as well.

LNG from the Russian giant could come from the Sakhalin II project as early as 2010.