Russia's Gazprom names potential partners for Shtokman gas project

Russia's Gazprom gas monopoly has announced a shortlist of five foreign firms in its search for potential partners to develop the giant Shtokman gas field in the Arctic. The shortlisted companies are America’s Chevron and ConocoPhilips, Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro and France's Total.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Gazprom would set up a consortium with two or three companies from the list. The members of the consortium would be decided within the next four to six months, he said. It is unclear how shares will be allocated among the members of the consortium, this will be determined after the members are finally chosen.

In early August, Gazprom announced the names of nine companies who had applied for participation in the Shtokman project, including America’s Chevron ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, Norway’s Hydro and Statsoil, Mitsui and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, the Dutch company Shell, and France's Total.

Miller said Gazprom would use marketing opportunities of its partners in developing the Shtokman field. North America will be the main market for LNG sales.

Shtokman gas field, located in the Barents Sea, has proven reserves of about 3.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 31 million tons of gas condensate, RBC reports.