Kommersant newspaper reports that Russia's natural gas production in July increased by 16%.

The production of natural gas rose by 16% on an annual basis to 52 billion cubic meters (bcm) during July, according to the Kommersant newspaper, citing anonymous sources. This was due to a boost in output by Gazprom, the state-owned energy company.

The report stated that the Russian gas production for the first seven month of the year was up by 9.2%, to 409.36 Bcm. It also added that the output from "other producer" - which is a category mainly related to Gazprom- increased by 14.3%, to 262 Bcm.

Newspapers reported that the increase was due to extremely high temperatures in summer, which increased demand for electric power generated by gas for air conditioning.

The report also stated that the gas production of the Arctic LNG 2 first-line project, which is under Western sanctions since June, increased in July from 34.23 million cubic meters (mcm) to 47.77 mcm.

The U.S. Department of State announced on Friday that the first LNG cargo was loaded by a tanker called Pioneer from the Arctic LNG2 plant at the beginning of August.

The department said that commercial satellite images captured another tanker, Asya Energy loading LNG at the Arctic LNG 2 facility from Utrenneye Terminal between Aug. 9-11. (Reporting and editing by David Gooddatkin)

(source: Reuters)