OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2009. Russia’s Energy Ministry has submitted to the government a draft resolution which calls for increasing Gazprom’s quota on the exchange market by 33% to 10 bcm effective 2009, the ministry said in a press release. In addition, the ministry’s spokesperson Irina Esipova said that independent producers can trade in gas without limitation and no quotas are imposed on them. Trading in gas at market prices in Russia began in 2006 as part of the experiment on the Mezhregiongaz platform. In 2008 the volume of market gas trading in Russia was raised to 15 bcm from 10 bcm, with Gazprom’s quota of 7.5 bcm and the remaining volumes assigned to independent gas producers.