Gazprom Returns to Shtokman
Russia's Gazprom undertook pre-investment studies in April and May on the development of the offshore Arctic Shtokman field and the construction of an LNG terminal in Vladivostok – two projects it has been trying to advance for many years.
Gazprom Proyektirovaniye, Gazprom's design division, said on May 27 it had carried out research on an adjusted plan to develop Shtokman. Gazprom had intended to launch production at the 3.8 trillion-m3 field in the Barents Sea in 2015, after more than a decade of preparation, with assistance from France's Total and Norway's Equinor. Its gas was to be exported in the form of LNG.
Despite the field having good reservoir quality, though, its harsh operating environment and remote location posed significant challenges. Total and Equinor dropped out and Gazprom said in 2013 that Shtokman would be left for "a future generation."
The Vladivostok LNG terminal will have a liquefaction capacity of 1.5mn mt/yr, Gazprom Proyektirovaniye said. Work on the project began in 2012 and Gazprom had intended it to have a much larger capacity of almost 14mn mt/yr. The terminal will provide "a significant part" of its capacity to bunkering," Gazprom said in October last year.