Consensus among Shtokman partners
The three partners in the Shtokman project agree on technological solutions and time limits, but are not yet ready to present a final investment decision.
In Thursday’s board meeting in the Shtokman Development company, project partners Gazprom, Total and Statoil all agreed that pipeline gas will start to flow from field installations in 2016 and that LNG production will start up in 2017. The partners thus confirmed the time frames settled in February 2010.
They also agree that all gas condensate from the field is to be pipelined to a land facility for processing and subsequent export, a press release from the company reads. This decision puts an end to one of the difficult points in the discussion on development solutions. As previously reported by BarentsObserver, Gazprom has wanted to lay only one pipeline from the field to Teriberka, the project development hub on the coast of the Barents Sea. A reservoir ship for condensate would be stationed at the field and smaller tankers bring the condensate to land. Total on the other hand wanted to lay two pipelines to Teriberka, one for gas and one for condensate.
At the same time, the SDAG board members are not yet ready to present a final investment decision. In Thursday’s meeting, the FID was postponed to late fall this year. Originally, the decision was to be presented early 2011.
The board meeting still positively confirmed project progress and seemed to remove doubts about project liability. Gazprom leader Aleksei Miller stressed that the project remains “a priority for all shareholders” and that they are interested in the “quickest possible” field development. The press release issued after the meeting also stresses that “the shareholders see the Shtokman gas condensate field as a single integrated project, which includes gas production, transport and LNG production”.
Read also: Gazprom, Statoil stress need to keep Shtokman time plan
Several experts have over the last years cast doubts over the project, especially as international gas markets have experienced quick and major changes and Gazprom suffered several setbacks on the European market.
The Shtokman field is located about 600 km north of Murmansk and includes a number of unprecedented technological challenges. The field contains as much as 3,9 trillion cubic meters of gas. It will be developed by the Shtokman Development AG, a joint venture of Gazprom (51%), Total (25%) and Statoil (24%).
Read more news about the Shtokman project in BarentsObserver’s Shtokman section.
