Gazprom Opposes Rosneft, Exxon LNG Project

Russian state gas giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) opposes the plans of state oil firm OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to build a gas liquefaction plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin and is prepared to continue talks on buying and liquefying the gas itself, a Gazprom executive was quoted as saying Wednesday by Prime news agency.

Gazprom operates Russia 's only liquefied natural gas plant, known as Sakhalin 2, but is facing competition from the planned Rosneft-Exxon plant on Sakhalin and OAO Novatek's (NVTK.RS) Yamal LNG. The government is drafting legislation to allow companies other than Gazprom to export LNG.

Rosneft and Exxon's LNG proposed plant "doesn't need to be built," Prime cited Gazprom's chief for projects in Russia 's east, Viktor Timoshilov, as saying Wednesday. "A lot of infrastructure is already built, and there's no need, in our view, to build more."

Mr. Timoshilov said Gazprom was prepared to continue talks on buying gas from Rosneft and Exxon's Sakhalin 1.

Responding to Mr. Timoshilov's remarks, Rosneft said in a statement that it had evaluated the project's viability and "doesn't need additional evaluations from competitors."