Algerian state oil and gas giant Sonatrach and its Russian gas counterpart Gazprom are in talks for the latter to receive LNG supplies from the North African country, Gazprom said following a meeting between the two companies’ top officials on 19 February.

While a deal for the world’s seventh largest gas exporter to supply the number one with LNG may at first sight seem strange, some 94% of Gazprom’s 2013 exports were via pipeline. While it has also been signing up customers for LNG – including a recent deal to supply Egypt with 35 LNG cargoes (see below) – it so far has only one LNG production facility, at Sakhalin north of Japan, though a second at Yamal in the Russian Arctic is slated for 2017-18 start-up (MEES, 13 February). (CONTINUED - 538 WORDS)