Besides the regional competition from one of the world's leading producers in Indonesia, Qatar has decided to exploit its known 900tcf of gas for the first time and now the Royal Dutch/Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project is to target its LNG marketing towards the US.

Previously the project has targeted the regional markets of Asia such as Japan and South Korea, however the surge in demand for LNG can not be ignored by the major producers.

"We are talking with many companies in Japan and elsewhere and we expect to make some announcements early next year," said Steve McVeigh, CEO of the Sakhalin Energy Investment Co.

U.S. LNG imports are expected to climb sharply to meet an expected 50% increase in consumption over the next two decades and several terminals are planned for the U.S. West Coast, convenient for shipments from Sakhalin.

"Several companies are planning to build LNG receiving terminals on the U.S. West Coast. We are talking with all of them this particular moment in time," McVeigh said.

Western Australia's controversial Gorgon project has already been eyeing off contracts of up to 2 million tonnes per annum to the US, although that projects focus has now turned towards sealing a deal with China.

To date Sakhalin-2 has signed agreements for the long term supply of 3.8 million tonnes of LNG per year from 2007, less than half of its expected capacity of 9.6 million tonnes per year.

Reserves at Sakhalin-2 are about 1 billion barrels of oil and over 500 billion cubic metres (17.7 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas and current oil production stands at about 70,000 barrels per day.