Top executives at Russia’s Gazprom were said to be meeting this week to discuss whether to revise their plans to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to U.S. markets.

Russian business daily Kommersant said it obtained a report by Gazprom that indicated shale gas basins in North America had made the United States self-sufficient for gas. Surplus natural gas also is said to be undermining the producer’s competitiveness in European LNG markets.

“The situation is aggravated by the so-called revolution in gas extraction from nontraditional sources in the United States,” said the report, which Kommersant said was in a speech by Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev. “If several years ago not a single organization known to us was forecasting the rapid growth of gas extraction in the United States, today practically all companies are discussing the prospects of shale gas extraction, which could fundamentally reshape the whole world gas market.”

The newspaper said the report also indicated that Gazprom had to redirect LNG supplies originally destined for European countries. Additional LNG capacities in Qatar, which increased its LNG production by 67% to 167 billion cubic meters in 2009, was given as a primary reason for declining Gazprom gas sales in Europe.

Gazprom also apparently is faced with a dilemma of whether to invest in Statoil’s Shtokman gas field in the Arctic. Gas supplies from the field would be exported to U.S. and Canadian markets.

According to Kommersant, Gazprom’s gas sales in 2009 fell 11.4% to 140 billion cubic meters because of the slumping economy and reduced global gas consumption. Export revenues also were said to fall by as much as $42 billion in 2009.

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