Gazprom pulls out of Shtokman gas field
31 Aug 2012
Russia’s state-owned gas company, Gazprom, has pulled out of plans to develop the Shtokman gas field.
Falling natural gas costs due to the availability of shale gas, alongside the rapid growth of liquified natural gas (LNG), is thought to have made the scheme unsustainable.
The Shtokman consortium, which includes France’s Total, Gazprom and Norway’s Statoil, had already delayed its investment decisions several times.
Vsevolod Cherepanov, head of Gazprom’s production department, told a conference: “All parties have come to the conclusion that the financing is too high to be able to do it for the time being.”
Shtokman lies 550km offshore in the Russian sector of the challenging Barents Sea environment.
It was first discovered in 1988 with almost 4tn m3 of gas reserves making it one of the world’s largest gas fields.
Under current plans, Shtokman is scheduled to begin delivery through the Nord Stream pipeline in 2016. Earlier this month, Statoil said it was writing off $336m of investment in project.
