Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Tuesday accused the United States of forcing Europe to buy its liquefied natural gas and said this amounted to unfair competition.
“The factor that today plays an important role is the protectionism that we see today by the United States which is effectively imposing its liquefied natural gas on European consumers to the detriment of its right to choose,” Novak said, according to Reuters.
But Russia has its own interest in becoming a LNG super-exporter.
Novatek PJSC, the main shareholder of the Yamal LNG plant, says plans for further projects will transform Russia into one of the biggest exporters of the fuel within a decade, according to Bloomberg.
Already the world’s top exporter of pipeline gas and second-biggest shipper of crude oil, exports from Sabetta are giving President Vladimir Putin’s Russia another conduit into the world economy for the country’s unrivaled energy resources.
“Russia can be in the top four main LNG exporters,” Novatek’s Chief Financial Officer Mark Gyetvay said in an interview in London.
Novatek has demonstrated that it’s possible to produce and liquefy the fuel in such harsh conditions at competitive prices and ship it to markets thousands of miles away in Europe and Asia. That’s helped by receding Arctic ice which is allowing a specially built fleet of strengthened tankers to ship fuel along Russia’s northern coast.
