Russia's LNG threat boosts export liberalisation prospects

Don't expect the market to be freed up anytime soon, but Russia is at least thinking about busting Gazprom's monopoly on pipeline gas supply

A Russian Security Council commission has proposed terminating Gazprom's gas export pipeline monopoly, so that the country's pipeline gas can compete better with liquefied natural gas now saturating global markets. The commission concluded that the country needed to adapt to the way in which LNG has altered the economics of global gas supply, according to Russian media, citing minutes from a meeting in July. At the meeting, it discussed the potential for developing LNG projects in Russia and the declining competitiveness of Russian gas exports in the face of LNG arriving in European and Asian markets. Participants, which reportedly included Russian gas producers Novatek and Rosneft, as well