Financial Times: Shale surge poses threat to Gazprom

When Gazprom last month finally launched its new flagship project, the Bovanenkovo gasfield far above the Arctic Circle, it should have been a triumphant moment: the field contains enough gas to supply Europe’s needs for decades to come.

But instead, the launch of the field – after years of delays and more than $44bn in capital expenditure – was overshadowed by a warning as Vladimir Putin called on the state gas company to pay more attention to the shale gas boom in the United States.

The shale revolution that is revolutionising global gas markets is also threatening to undermine Gazprom’s export position in Europe, where it accounts for 25 per cent of gas sales, and to relegate projects like Bovanenkovo to relics of the past.  MORE