These plans are currently under negotiation among Gazprom and Japanese Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. and Itochu Corp. These companies plan to jointly develop a project of LNG export from Murmansk, where a plant for LNG production will be built, Interfax reported.

Contracts for LNG transportation will not be signed before spring 2006, and gas deliveries will start in 2010. The Japanese companies have prepared preliminary plan of transportation, which were the first negotiations topic. Now the companies will develop detailed strategy of the project’s implementation.

The Shtokman gas-condensate field is located in the central part of the Barents Sea, some 450 kilometers Northwest of Murmansk. Its reserves constitute 3.2 billion m³ of gas and 31 million tonnes of condensate.

Drawing on the Shtokman field and its impending development, Gazprom intends to built a plant of LNG production in the Murmansk region. The plant will export its production to the United States and likely to Europe.