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Novatek Gas & Power, a wholly owned trading subsidiary of PAO Novatek, has joined both the Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel (SGMF) and the SEA\LNG coalition in a move it says is designed to help promote liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel.

The chairman of Novatek's management board, Leonid Mikhelson, noted: "The recent adoption of stricter emission standards for marine transportation by 2020 is consistent with our strategy for entering into new prospective LNG market segments, including bunkering. Global environmental requirements create the basis for transiting global fleet toward cleaner types of fuels. We are confident that more shipping companies will opt for LNG to meet these stricter requirements, and we are ready to facilitate the LNG bunkering market and infrastructure development."

Novatek is one of the largest independent natural gas producers in Russia. Founded in 1994, the company is engaged in the exploration, production, processing and marketing of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons.

The company's upstream activities are concentrated in the Yamal-Nenets region, which is the world's largest natural gas-producing area and accounts for approximately 80 percent of Russia's natural gas production and around 16 percent of the world's gas production.

Novatek's shares are listed on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) under the ticker symbol 'NVTK'.

Earlier this week, Bunker Index reported that Yokohama-Kawasaki International Port Corporation (YKIP) had joined SEA\LNG. It followed the recent addition of another Japanese firm, Marubeni Corporation.

Novatek is the first Russian company to become a SEA\LNG member and the second to join SGMF - after Gazprom Marketing & Trading Group.

Back in March, SEA\LNG and SGMF signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create a framework for how the two organisations would work together to achieve their common goal of making LNG the fuel of choice for the shipping industry.