Liberalization of exports of liquefied natural gas from Russia's northern regions will boost annual LNG production to 100 million metric tons over the next seven years.

"On the instructions of the President, the Government is working to increase liquefied natural gas production and exports. A draft law that would help utilize the capacities of Arctic routes for delivering LNG to the Asia-Pacific region has been drawn up. The Government has proposed adding promising deposits located far away from the unified gas supply system to the list of fields from which LNG exports are permitted. These include northern regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, which contain about 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas," Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said when opening a Government meeting.

The Government is now considering a bill to amend Articles 2 and 3 of the Federal Law on Gas Exports.

"The draft law provides for granting the exclusive right to export LNG to users of onshore subsoil areas, fully or partially located north of the 67th degree of northern latitude, as regards natural gas in a liquefied state, produced from natural gas and (or) petroleum (associated) gas produced in the said subsoil areas, and for using LNG in bunkering sea and river vessels carrying cargo for export," reads the press release for the meeting.

The draft law developed by the Energy Ministry was submitted back in May of last year.

"Exempting ship bunkering operations with liquefied natural gas from the gas export law will stimulate the use of LNG as bunker fuel, which is more environmentally friendly and an alternative fuel for maritime and river navigation," the ministry explains.