Russia urged to develop gas potential

MOSCOW – The United States is urging Russia to develop its potential for producing liquefied natural gas.

U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow urged Russia to become a bigger player in the natural gas export market at a time when demand in America is growing but production isn’t.

With proven gas reserves of 700 trillion cubic feet, Russia “ought to be a major player when it comes to LNG,” McSlarrow said.

However, McSlarrow noted that LNG technology and production were virtually nonexistent in Russia. He offered U.S. assistance to “allow U.S. companies that have the greatest experience in the world in building the entire LNG value chain … to partner with Russian companies in ways that allow us to share technology, and share exploration and production.”

LNG is natural gas that has been turned into liquid through cooling, making it more easily transportable.

McSlarrow also reiterated Washington’s concern over Russia’s de-facto annulment of a tender for a Far Eastern oil field won by two U.S. companies a decade ago, calling it “a bump in the road that needs to be resolved.”

In January, Russia said it wouldn’t issue a license for the development of the Sakhalin-3 oil project to a consortium led by two U.S. companies, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco. The group won a tender for the project in 1993.