MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, adopted in the first reading a draft law on amending the law "On Gas Export", granting the right to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from fields on land north of 67 degrees north latitude - from the Arctic part of the Krasnoyarsk region, the Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts.
As Deputy Energy Minister Anastasia Bondarenko said earlier, the bill will grant the right to export to 36 Rosneft fields in the Krasnoyarsk region, the Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts.
According to the explanatory note, these fields are far from the Unified Gas Supply System, that is why gas monetization from them is economically feasible only through the production of LNG. The bill will make it possible to monetize large gas reserves, which are remote from Gazprom's unified system and create conditions for increasing production and export of LNG.
The bill also provides for the removal of LNG bunkering operations from the gas export law. This will stimulate the use of LNG as a bunker fuel, which is more environmentally friendly and an alternative for sea and river navigation.
Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that expanding the list would allow increasing annual LNG production in the country to 100 million tons in seven years and more actively using the capacities of the Arctic routes for its transportation to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.