French oil company Total has been invited to join the giant Gazprom-operated Shtokman gas field development project in Russia’s Arctic, when and if the project development starts again.

“Taking into account the successful cooperation with Total within the first phase of the Shtokman project, Total will be the first company invited by Gazprom to join us upon resuming this unique and technologically challenging project,” said Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee during a working meeting with Patrick Pouyanne, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Executive Committee of Total at St. Petersburg International event on Friday, June 19.

Miller did not say when and if the Shtokman project development, estimated at $15 billion, would resume.

Discovered in 1988, the Shtokman gas and condensate field is located in the central part of the Russian sector of the Barents Sea shelf, about 600 kilometers northeast of Murmansk, where sea depth varies between 320 and 340 meters.

According to Gazprom, C1 reserves of the field make up 3.9 trillion cubic meters of gas and 56 million tons of gas condensate, with 3.8 trillion cubic meters of gas and 53.4 million tons of gas condensate located within Gazprom’s licensed area.

Shtokman Development AG

On February 21, 2008 Gazprom, Total and StatoilHydro (present Statoil) signed the Shareholders Agreement on establishing Shtokman Development AG , a joint venture for the development Phase 1 of the project. Gazprom held 51 per cent in the company, while Total and Statoil held 25 and 24 per cent respectively.

Gazprom, in cooperation with Total and Statoil, had been working towards making the Final Investment Decision for the first phase of the Shtokman project, however, due to the shale boom in the U.S. and high development costs, Gazprom in August 2012 decided to postpone the investment decision indefinitely.

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

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