11.10.09

Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA Inc., a company in the Gazprom group, has announced the start of natural gas sales in the U.S., the Russian gas giant said in a press release.

"Development of new markets and products is key for the Gazprom group's global strategy. We have now achieved our goal: entry of the largest gas company into the world's largest gas market," the CEO of Gazprom Marketing and Trading Limited in the UK, Vitaly Vasilyev, said.

Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA acquired gas reserves from other operators through a number of long-term swap operations, enabling it to quickly win a good position in North America.

That enabled the company to create reserves that will serve as the foundation for its main operations, Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA, John Hattenberger, said. The company has already concluded deals to acquire more than 350 million cubic feet of gas a day in various U.S. regions for the next three-seven years. The company's goal now is to expand that position, Hattenberger said.

Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA will also sell LNG exported to North America by various Gazprom divisions. In May 2009 the company signed a long-term agreement on purchases of the LNG plant built for the Sakhalin-2 project. It also plans to export gas to the U.S. from the Shtokman field.

Teri Viswanath, director of raw materials research at Credit Suisse Securities USA, said the sales had opened a new chapter in the globalization of the natural gas market and that there are no longer any regional, isolated markets.

Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA Inc. plans to become one of the top ten LNG traders in the U.S. by 2015.

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Source: Interfax