Statoil Writes Off Shtokman Investment. Gives Back 24pct Stake (Russia)

Statoil Writes Off Shtokman Investment. Gives Back 24pct Stake (Russia)

Norway’s oil and gas company Statoil has decided to write off $336.2 million of investment and to hand back its 24 pct share in what is expected to be a giant gas development project, Shtokman, Reuters reports.

The consortium formed in 2009, and named Shtokman Development AG, by Russia’s Gazprom, France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil, has been unable to reach an agreement on the Final Investment Decision for the project before the shareholder agreement expired on June 30, 2012.

Reuters has quoted a source close to the matter who said that “the share handover was a formality related to the deadline expiry and that the companies remained in talks over developing the project.”

Gazprom held a 51 per cent stake in the company, while Total and Statoil held  25 and 24 per cent stakes, accordingly. The total investment for the project is expected to be approximately USD 15 billion.

Also, various media in April reported that Gazprom, the world’s largest gas producer, was working on establishing a new consortium which would bring Shell into the game instead of either Total or Statoil. Gazprom already has a successful relationship with Shell in Russia’s Sakhalin-II offshore gas project.

Shtokman

The Shtokman field is situated in the central part of the continental shelf within the Russian sector of the Barents Sea. C1 reserves of the field make up 3.9 trillion cubic meters of gas and 56 million tons of gas condensate. The Shtokman gas and condensate field development project is of strategic importance for Gazprom. The project implementation will give a start to a new gas production region on the Arctic shelf of Russia. The Shtokman field will become a resource base for building up deliveries of Russian pipeline gas and LNG to domestic and foreign markets.

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.

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.

[mappress]
Offshore Energy Today Staff, August 8, 2012