Gazprom: Shtokman construction will start in 2012
Construction of the onshore infrastructure for the Shtokman gas field will start in Teriberka in 2012, says General Director of Gazprom Dobycha Shelf Gennady Gavrilin. Tenders for drilling platforms will also be opened early next year.
While Norwegian Shtokman partner Statoil is impatiently waiting for a Russian government guarantee of tax breaks for the Shtokman project before making a final investment decision, Russian partners are more than ready to start construction and still believe that the first gas will come in 2016.
As soon as the shareholders in Shtokman Development make a final investment decision, which is expected in December, Gazprom daughter company Gazprom Dobycha Shelf will start construction of harbor facilities and communication lines in Teriberka:
- We are now about to finish projecting and surveying, and the road to the future industrial sites is 70 percent ready. If the first gas from Shtokman is to be produced in 2016, the harbor and LNG plant must be ready in 2017. We are absolutely sure we can keep this schedule, Gavrilin said to RIA Novosti.
The grand-scaled construction outside the fishing village of Teriberka will need 15-18 000 workers.
Gazprom Dobycha also plans to post a tender for projecting of ice-classed platforms for Shtokman in the first quarter of 2012. The platforms have to be able to bear the harsh climatic conditions in the Barents Sea for 50 years. The water temperature in the area varies between -2 and +8 degrees, the wind speed is 1,5 meters per second and the waves can reach 26 meters, Gavrilin tells RIA Novosti.
