Islamabad, Mar 24 (IANS): As Russia develops the Yamal LNG project facility, Islamabad and Moscow are in talks for a multi-billion dollar government-to-government import deal, Express Tribune reported.

The Yamal LNG project includes development of the giant South Tambey (Tambeyskoye) gas field that is located near Sabetta in the Yamal peninsula in Russia. The Russian government has declared the project to be of national interest at a cost of around $27 billion.

This is a new addition to the energy cooperation between Pakistan and Russia, as the two countries are already working on different projects, including the Pakistan Gas Stream, a gas pipeline from Kazakhstan, and an offshore gas pipeline.

Sources said the Pakistan government is interested to sign a government-to-government deal with Russia to import LNG to meet its growing gas demand, the report said.

They added that the Yamal Project being developed by Russia would be one of the largest LNG facilities in the world. Russia is also meeting the demand of Europe by exporting gas through a pipeline despite opposition from the US.

The sources said Pakistan LNG Limited is in talks with Russian firms Gazprom and Novatek to import gas. At present, Pakistan has space in the second LNG terminal owned by Pakistan Gasport Consortium Limited (PGPC) to import the product despite a fresh deal of imports from Qatar. Presently, Qatar controls the Pakistani market in terms of LNG import.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia had dominated the Pakistani oil market.