Russia's lower house of parliament gave its final backing on Friday to amendments that would end Gazprom's gas export monopoly by letting rival companies send super-cooled gas by tanker to the fast-growing Asian market. Russia wants to double its share of the global trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) to 10 percent by 2020, benefiting from Japan's move away from nuclear power and China's call to curb the use of coal.
Changes to the law on gas exports, passed at a third and final reading, would allow Russia's No.2 gas producer Novatek and state oil giant Rosneft to finish projects and compete with Gazprom's existing Sakhalin-2 plant.
State-owned Zarubezhneft, which has yet to develop its own LNG strategy, would also be allowed to export LNG.
Gazprom's monopoly on pipeline gas exports will also remain unchanged, as will an effective ban on LNG exports to European countries that already buy Russian conventional gas.
That would protect Gazprom's exports to Europe, where it accounted for 26 percent of gas sales last year and - despite recent declines in market share - targets a 30 percent share by 2020. Its LNG exports are a tiny fraction of pipeline flows.
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