Russia is considering the possibility of constructing a second liquified natural gas plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin, a regional official said Tuesday.
A government working group is considering whether to construct the plant in the town of Ilinsk, said Galina Pavlova, deputy governor of the Sakhalin region.
Russia's state gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) launched the country's first LNG plant in February as part of the Sakhalin-2 project, from which 65% of exports are sold to Japanese consumers.
"There is enormous interest for LNG from Japan. It would be a shame not to use this opportunity to expand production," said Pavlova.
She declined to give any timeframe for such a project but said it could take gas from the Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)-led Sakhalin-1 project and the Sakhalin-3 project, the latter of which is still to be developed.
Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev said Tuesday he expects a global supply shortage of LNG by 2014 or 2015.
Medvedev also said Gazprom is considering expanding the existing LNG plant on Sakhalin, which has an annual capacity of 9.6 million metric tons.