Putin’s VEB to Fund Liquefied Natural-Gas Plant for Russia Sales

Vnesheconombank (VNECB), Russia’s state- development bank chaired by Vladimir Putin, may fund the first project to develop liquefied natural-gas market domestically, the government said.

The board of the Moscow-based bank, known as VEB, plans to discuss tomorrow funding a plant in central Russia’s Tambov region, which will produce more than 400,000 metric tons of LNG a year and start supplying it to the domestic market, the government said in an e-mailed statement.

VEB plans to boost its loans portfolio 7 percent this year to 540 billion rubles ($18.4 billion). The board will also discuss tomorrow funding sales of 400 Russian locomotives to Ukraine, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at ikhrennikov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net