Russia would compete with Qatar, Australia and the United States for customers in Asia, its target market, up to 2030, and their production costs are seen at $2.8-11 and $7-10 per 1 million BTU, respectively.
Russia plans to increase its LNG production to nearly 140 million tonnes LNG per year by 2035 from around 31 million tonnes last year and aims to have about 20% of the global market share by then.
The compromise may be the increasing popularity of short-term, flexible contracts, which can vary from a few months to a few years and be priced against different benchmarks.
Logistical challenges due to limited LNG tanker availability and record high spot prices has meant that some suppliers have not been able to deliver cargoes on time, a Singapore-based trade source said.