April 16 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom set up a unit to market liquefied natural gas and manage shipments of the fuel, Lloyds List reported, citing the company.

Gazprom has set up Gazprom Global LNG and the company may need as many as 20 vessels for its LNG venture in Shtokman in the Barents Sea, the trade daily said. The marketing unit has contracted two vessels for spot cargo deliveries, according to the report.

Gazprom and Shell Eastern Trading Ltd. will each buy about 1 million metric tons of LNG a year from Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., which operates the Sakhalin-2 project in Russia’s Far East, the Moscow based-company said in an e-mailed statement on April 8. The contracts will start this year and last through 2028.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at dinakar@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 15, 2009 22:51 EDT