Russia not considering transition to sale of LNG for rubles

Russia is not currently discussing the possibility of switching to payment in rubles for liquefied natural gas (LNG), Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov said at the Eastern Economic Forum when asked if the authorities are considering sale of LNG from the Sakhalin 2 project for rubles.

"At the moment, there are no such discussions, as well as [there are not such discussions] on the transfer of LNG trade to rubles in general," TASS cited him as saying.

In July, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that his ministry supported a proposal to sell LNG for rubles rather than for dollars or euros, similar to Gazprom's pipeline gas trading mechanism.