08.06.12 The
Shtokman field in the Barents Sea is believed to hold 3,9 trillion
cubic metres of gas. That is about six times the annual Russian
production and the field has been declared the key to keeping Gazprom’s export at the
current level in the next decennia.
In
2008 Gazprom, Total and Statoil formed Shtokman Development AG,
intending to start production in 2013. Since then the production plan
has been changed and delayed several times. Now Norwegian Statoil is
believed to leave the project altogether. In
a meeting with head of Statoil Helge Lund president Vladimir Putin
urged the company to make a decision. A decision, however, may already
have been taken.
Gazprom has set course towards a 100 percent LNG project on Shtokman.
Gazprom wants to enter the expanding LNG market, becoming less dependent
on pricing within the existing politically and technically fragile
pipeline infrastructure.At
the 15th World Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur this week CEO in Gazprom
Aleksei Miller signaled that new partners might appear in the project.
Miller was on his way to a meeting with his Dutch counterpart in Shell,
with whom Gazprom is doing business elsewhere on the Russian shelf.
According to anonymous sources Shell might very well enter the project
at the expence of either Total or Statoil, for whom Gazprom has
“questions” and “demands” respectively.
Soaring costs The
Russian monopoly favours a 100 percent LNG project. Officially Statoil
supports the idea, although this could be lethal for the companÿ́s own
LNG projects in the Barents Sea. Unofficially Statoil has lost its
patience with its Russian partner, and observers do not rule out the possibility that Statoil will leave the project by itself. The Norwegians have long stressed
that costs need to be reduced and that tax breaks must be introduced.
The development costs for the project's first phase have grown from $20
billion to $30 billion. So far Statoil has invested about $1.5 billion.
Gazprom,
holding 51 percent of the shares in Shtokman Development, however,
wants to enter the expanding LNG (world) market, becoming less dependent
on pricing within the existing politically and technically fragile
pipeline infrastructure.