Gazprom considers Korea link

MOSCOW Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, said Tuesday that it was considering plans to start supplying South Korea with natural gas in 2012 or 2013 as part of its broader plan to build Russia's first pipeline to Asia.

Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, said the idea had been discussed at a meeting between Gazprom's chief, Alexei Miller, and executives of Korea Gas, or Kogas, a South Korean state-controlled energy company. Gazprom said it would also consider supplying Kogas with liquefied natural gas on a spot basis at earlier stages.

Russia could have become a supplier of China and South Korea already, had Gazprom not blocked the development of Kovykta, a rival project led by TNK-BP, half of which is owned by BP.

The Russian news agency Interfax quoted Miller as saying Gazprom was considering supplying South Korea with 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

On Monday, Gazprom started building the first stretch of its West Siberia-China pipeline, which will cost about $11 billion and supply China with 30 billion cubic meters a year. Gazprom wants to lay two natural gas pipelines to supply China with 60 billion to 80 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year.

A memorandum on natural gas supplies was signed in March between Gazprom and China National Petroleum, the parent of PetroChina, shortly after the heads of the two states released a statement supporting investment in each country's energy sector.

The first pipeline is expected to carry natural gas from western Siberian fields to join China's internal west-east pipeline. The other link, heading to the country's northeast, is expected to carry natural gas from Sakhalin and maybe Kovykta. The pipelines are due to come on stream in 2011.

Interfax quoted Miller as saying Gazprom was considering building an onshore and an offshore pipeline to South Korea, implying that natural gas could come not only via China but also from Sakhalin, where the company has yet to obtain natural gas reserves.