Shtokman requires $4 billion tanker fleet
Sovcomflot has estimated the price-tag for the LNG-tankers needed. At the SevTEK exhibition in Murmansk this week, both the Governor and a Shtokman Development official said the construction of the onshore facilities in Teriberka will start in May next year.
The financial estimates for development of the Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents Sea is expected to be announced in October by the partners Gazprom, Total and Statoil. A possible investment decision can come by the end of the year.
In the meantime, Sovcomflot, Russia’s state owned shipping company, has estimated the price tag for the tankers needed to bring the liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the markets.
- The Shtokman project may require 20 tankers, which in total will cost $4 billion (€2,95 billion), senior executive vice president of Sovcomflot Yevgeny Abrosov told reporters on Wednesday, according to Moscow Times.
Earlier it was expected that a large portion of the LNG from the Shtokman project would be sold to the US, but today the markets in Asia is increasingly attractive for Russian Arctic gas.
Sovcomflot says the sailing season along the Northern Sea Route can be used during a five months navigation season.
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As the deadline for a Shtokman investment decision is approaching, the optimism in Murmansk increases. The processing plant for the gas will be located in Teriberka, just north of Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula and the region’s officials hope for boost in businesses.
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Speaking at the opening of SevTEK on Wednesday, Murmansk Governor Dmitri Dmitrienko said the construction of the coastal infrastructure is scheduled to begin in May 2012, RIA Novosti reports.
This information was confirmed by Aleksandr Selin, director of the Murmansk branch of Shtokman Development AG.
- We have no reasons to doubt that a decision will be made. Until now, we have completed major tenders. It is expected that in May the contractors will be busy building onshore facilities, which include energy complex, sewage treatment, gas condensate facilities, LNG terminals and other infrastructure facilities, Selin told RIA Novosti.
The price of LNG on the world market has increased following growing demands in Asia and the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
In June this year BarentsObserver reported that Gazprom is preparing 25-year contracts on supply of 7.5 million tons of LNG annually to three Indian energy companies. The annual volume covered by the Indian deals is equivalent to the projected annual LNG output of the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea.
