Russian LNG challenges westward pipeline gas sales

Significance

The government plans additional federal- and regional-level support for key projects, but expects industry players to be active in scaling up LNG production capacity and searching for new export opportunities.

Impacts

• Greater liberalisation of LNG exports is likely despite Gazprom's attempts to exclude them from European markets.
• Shell's reluctance to back the expansion of Sakhalin-2 will Novatek's LNG production lead over Gazprom.
• The Northern Sea Route can handle only a small fraction of global trade despite Russian claims it is an alternative to the Suez Canal.