Russia to use rainy-day fund to finance Gazprom's Ust-Luga project

Russia will use the National Wealth Fund to finance Gazprom's new chemical and liquefied natural gas project in the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Ivanov said on Friday.

Gazprom said the project would require equipment purchases of at least 900 billion roubles ($13.87 billion).

Gazprom had initially planned to build only an LNG plant in the area with Royal Dutch Shell. It changed its mind earlier this year and redesigned the project to add a chemical plant, prompting Shell to leave the project.