Usmanov sells 75 pct in Yamal LNG to Gazprombank-paper

MOSCOW Jan 30 (Reuters) - Billionaire Alisher Usmanov has sold his majority stake in a gigantic gas deposit to the banking arm of Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom, taking its share in the field to 100 percent, a paper said on Friday.

The metals tycoon sold his 75 percent share in Yamal LNG, a firm which operates one of the biggest gas fields in Russia, Yuzhno-Tambeiskoye, which has estimated reserves of 1.3 trillion metres of gas, Vedomosti business daily said, quoting Usmanov.

Gazprom's (GAZP.MM) Gazprombank already had a blocking stake of 25 percent in Yamal LNG, which it acquired three years ago.

Gazprom, the world's largest gas producer and supplier of a quarter of Europe's gas, is rapidly expanding into the booming liquefied natural gas (LNG) market.

LNG shipments from the Gazprom-controlled Sakhalin-2 projects on the Pacific island by the same name are expected to launch sometime in the first quarter of this year, marking the firm's first LNG shipments. (Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Hans Peters)