FT: Gazprom looks east to restore fortunes as US shale gas booms
It took a while for Gazprom to awake to the threat the US shale revolution posed for Russia’s ambitions to dominate global gas markets. But the state gas monopoly is now accelerating plans to expand its ability to reach gas buyers in Asia.
Gazprom had been considering construction of a pipeline across east Siberia to the Russian Pacific Coast for more than a decade, but the project is only now moving beyond the drawing board. The company is gearing up to launch the grandly named Power of Siberia project in October and says the 4,000km pipeline will be ready to deliver gas to a new liquefied natural gas export terminal at the port of Vladivostok by late 2016. A spur pipeline to China may be added.
Accustomed to dictating trading terms in Europe for many years, Gazprom is having to adapt to greater competition. Thanks to the US shale boom, gas is more plentiful on global markets. A challenge is also coming from an unexpected quarter: Russia’s increasingly assertive independent producers, who are demanding an end to Gazprom’s gas export monopoly.
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