RusEnergy

MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and South Korea are planning to sign an agreement on supplies of natural gas to the southeast Asian country by yearend, a deputy chairman of Gazprom's management committee said Thursday. "We are planning to sign an intergovernmental agreement on supplies of gas at the end of 2006," said Alexander Medvedev, who is also general director of Gazprom's export arm, Gazexport. Gazprom and Kogas, a South Korean state-controlled importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), signed a 5-year cooperation agreement on supplies of Russian gas to South Korea in May 2003. To meet the country's increasing demand and to ensure a stable supply of natural gas, KOGAS imported 22.3 million tons of LNG in 2005. South Korea imports LNG from Qatar, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Australia and Russia.