Gazprom, Russia’s gas export monopoly, made the statement after officially setting up a joint operating company to develop Shtokman’s first phase together with France’s Total and Norway’s StatoilHydro. “This project will serve the purpose of steady and secure gas supplies to Europe… By 2013 we will send 11 billion cubic meters a year of gas and in 2014 we will have volumes of 7.5 billion cubic meter a year of LNG,” Gazprom’s head Alexei Miller said after signing the agreement at the firm’s Moscow headquarters.
The venture, created on Thursday after a two-month delay, will build and operate infrastructure at the gas deposit, which could supply Europe and the United States with pipeline gas and LNG for decades. It will help Gazprom further increase its role as the world’s largest gas producer and supplier of a quarter of Europe’s gas. Gazprom will own 51% in the Switzerland-registered venture, while Total and StatoilHydro will hold 25% and 24%, respectively.
Gazprom wants to develop Shtokman, one of the world’s biggest gas fields — with reserves estimated at 3.8 trillion cubic meters of gas and about 37 million tons of gas condensate — in four stages. The first stage is expected to cost $15 billion. (Reuters)
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