SINGAPORE, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom may become an exclusive supplier of liquefied natural gas to Singapore after the expiry of a current contract with the British Gas company, head of Singapore's Keppel company said on Monday.

"In the future, Gazprom will become a supplier of energy carriers to Singapore, and we will try to provide it exclusive rights [to supply energy carriers to the country] when [our] cooperation with British Gas ends," Choo Chiau Beng said at a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Singapore.

In his turn, Gazprom's deputy head Alexander Medvedev expressed his readiness to start energy supplies.

"We possess [sufficient] volumes of liquefied natural gas, and we are ready to discuss with [our] colleagues possibilities to supply gas both for Singapore and for the whole region," he said, adding marketing and trading operations were expected to start in Singapore in 2010.

The Sakhalin II project, in which Gazprom holds a controlling stake, earlier estimated reserves of 150 million metric tons (1.1 billion barrels) of oil and 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Sakhalin II comprises an oil field with associated gas, a natural gas field with associated condensate, a pipeline, a liquefied natural gas plant, and an LNG export terminal.

Earlier, Gazprom said it was ready to start gas deliveries to China in 2010.