June 16 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia's state-owned natural gas export monopoly, said it's examining plans to increase gas extraction from the Sakhalin-2 fields, being developed with Royal Dutch Shell Plc in the country's Far East.

Gazprom is also seeking to market the Russian government's share of liquefied natural gas from Sakhalin-2, said Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom's deputy chief executive officer. He reiterated that the first LNG cargo may be shipped ``early next year'' and the project will start pumping oil year-round, shifting away from seasonal output.

Moscow-based Gazprom last year bought control of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., the venture operator, as it tightened its grip over the nation's largest foreign investment project. Sakhalin-2 had originally planned to export its first LNG cargo in the second half of this year.

``The analysis of the project development shows that some pipeline gas may'' be produced from Sakhalin-2 project, Medvedev said today in a phone interview from Algeria. As soon as the LNG project ``it will be clear what possibilities exist at the Sakhalin-2 project for LNG expansion and pipeline gas'' production, he said.

Sakhalin Energy today secured a $5.3 billion loan from Japan Bank for International Cooperation and other banks to develop the LNG project. Gazprom Shell, Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. are investing about $22 billion in the project off Russia's Pacific coast.

Expansion Plans

Sakhalin-2 will be able to produce about 150,000 barrels of oil a day and 9.6 million metric tons of LNG a year, Mitsubishi and Mitsui said today. The operator is building two LNG trains, each able to make 4.8 million tons of the fuel a year.

Sakhalin Energy may add as many as two more trains, doubling the project's scale, the Russian government and Sakhalin region administration officials previously said. LNG demand in Asia has been rising because Japan, the world's biggest LNG buyer, boosted imports after an earthquake in July shut the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's biggest.

Gazprom requested the government appoint it the seller of gas earmarked for Russia from Sakhalin-2 and the nearby Sakhalin-1 project led by Exxon Mobil Corp., the Russian company said June 4. It plans to export Sakhalin-2 LNG and pump pipeline gas to the domestic market in the Far East, according to the company.

Shareholders are requesting the company load the first LNG cargoes ``either at the end of this year or at the very beginning of the next year,'' Medvedev said. ``Our oil pipeline and gas pipeline should be completed simultaneously.''

The completion of the crude pipeline to a port in the southern part of Sakhalin Island will allow the project to produce and export oil year around.

Sakhalin Energy in December completed its ninth production season after pumping about 12.4 million barrels of oil after extraction resumed in June. It had to shut operations because of heavy ice conditions in the Sea of Okhotsk during winter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 16, 2008 10:23 EDT