In the very near future we will conduct test sailing with LNG on the Northern Sea Route, Gazprom says.

The shipping operations will be conducted together with Sovcomflot, Gazprom informs in a press release.

In a meeting between Gazprom leader Aleksei Miller and Sovcomflot´s General Director Sergei Frank on Thursday, the two companies concluded that “the relevance of LNG shipping along the Northern Sea Route to the Asian-Pacific region in growing quickly”.

“With regard to gas exports to the region, the development of LNG production is an absolute priority in comparison with pipeline deliveries,” Miller stressed. “Consequently, the deliveries of Russian LNG through the Northern Sea Route allows us to significantly reduce transportation costs, thus making the LNG highly competitive, he added.

As previously reported, Gazprom is considering to export LNG from the Shtokman project to Japan. Also other companies are exploring the possibilities to ship LNG through the Northern Sea Route to the growing Asian markets, among them Statoil.

Gazprom and Sovcomflot already have an extensive cooperation in the Arctic. In June 2011, the companies signed an agreement on Gazprom´s leasing of two new Arctic LNG carriers from the shipping company.

Sovcomflot is also cooperating closely with the Novatek company, which is in charge of the development of the Yamal LNG project.