Gazprom aims to supply up to 10% of US needs

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom plans to raise deliveries to the United States and eventually supply up to 10 per cent of the world's biggest economy's gas needs, a senior company official said on yesterday.

"The volumes we currently supply account for 0.5 per cent of gas consumed [in the United States]. But with the gas from Shtokman and Yamal, our share will grow to 5-10 per cent," said Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev.

"We plan to supply 17 per cent of the Shtokman gas to North America," he added.

Gazprom, the world's lar?gest gas producer and supplier of a quarter of Europe's gas, views Yamal and Shtokman as key sources of future output as production falls at mature deposits in West Siberia.

Shtokman, in the Barents sea, is one of the largest gas fields in the world and is scheduled to start producing gas for export by pipeline by 2013 and as liquefied natural gas in 2014.

Gazprom owns 51 pe rcent of Shtokman Development, while France's Total holds 25 per cent and StatoilHydro owns 24 per cent.

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.