Shell Still Involved in Shtokman Talks

Supermajor Shell is still in discussions with the Shtokman consortium about a potential stake, its CEO has told Bloomberg Television.

CEO Peter Voser told the news outlet today that Shell remained in talks about the Russian LNG project but refused to be drawn on whether the company would replace Statoil in the consortium.

"We have always said that with the successful Sakhalin project, which we are running with Gazprom and our Japanese shareholders, we have now interest to do more LNG projects in Russia and we are looking at various options with the Russian oil and gas companies," he said. 

"Discussions are ongoing. I cannot comment on any more details."

Shell has for months been rumoured to be primed to take Statoil's place in the Shtokman consortium following a number of setbacks to the project. The failure of the consortium to reach a final investment decision several times has led to speculation that Statoil is preparing to leave the consortium. However, the company said last month that it currently had no plans to do leave.

Gazprom is the majority shareholder in the Shtokman project with a 51 per cent stake. Statoil holds a 24 per cent stake in the project with French major Total holding the remaining 25 per cent stake.