MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) - The chief executives of Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom and U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips met Monday to discuss prospects for the development of the Shtokman gas field and the supply of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to markets in North America.

Gazprom said in a news release that Alexei Miller and Jim Mulva had held the meeting as part of consultations with companies interested in being involved in the first leg of the Shtokman project. The deposit, located off Russia's Arctic coast, contains an estimated 3.2 trillion cu m of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate.