Russia’s biggest independent oil producer Lukoil said today that Gazprom has agreed to buy natural gas from fields in West Siberia and the Caspian Sea, in a sign the gas giant is loosening its grip on the country’s pipeline system.
Lukoil said it will supply 8.35 billion cubic metres of gas to Gazprom’s 160,000-kilometre gas pipeline network next year from its Bolshekhetskaya field, Dow Jones reported.
Gazprom has been accused of not giving independent producers’ fair access to its pipelines, undermining the domestic market and causing oil producers to flare large volumes of associated gas. Last month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticised the behemoth over pipeline access.
