URENGOI: Gazprom may drop plans to pipe gas from the huge Shtokman field in the Barents Sea, focusing instead on producing liquefied natural gas, the Russian firm's deputy head said on Saturday.

The comment by Alexander Medvedev marked the first time the firm has raised that possibility.

Medvedev also did not rule out the firm's gas exports to Europe would stay unchanged at 150 billion cubic metres.

"We said that exports will total 154 (bcm this year) but even if it will be at 150 bcm, revenues won't be lower," he told reporters in the Arctic region of Urengoi where he launched a new gas well.