Statoil: No Plans to Leave Shtokman

Statoil has no plans to leave the Shtokman project and is still committed to seeing the project to the end, the company's VP has said.

Speaking at a conference in Kuala Lumpar, Statoil Vice President Eldar Saetre said that the Norwegian producer still had confidence in the project and was working with the other shareholders to iron out problematic details.

"We are working intensively with our partners to improve the project, take the costs down, put together the financial framework," told a Dow Jones reporter at the conference.

Mr. Saetre said that Statoil was in full support of a revised plan for the project, which would see focus turned to liquefied natural gas supply to Asia, rather than pipeline supply to Europe.

"Gazprom has stated that they are evaluating a Phase 1 solution that only includes LNG," he said. "Statoil supports this."

Rumours of Statoil's impending exit from the Shtokman project continue to dog the company, due, in part, to its vocal criticism in the past of financial issues with the project. Delays arising from the failure to secure tax breaks from the Russian government have previously prevented a financial investment decision being made on the project, a fact that has frustrated CEO Helge Lund in the past.

"We need significant changes for projects of this complexity," he said in March. "That is a prerequisite for any investment decision.  "Shtokman is basically technically ready, but the tax system in Russia is predominantly built for simpler oil and gas projects

Though Mr. Saetre said his company was still confident in and committed to the Shtokman project, he would not rule out the possibility of the sale of its 24 per cent stake in the project in the future.

"Statoil will always...have the flexibility to buy or sell assets...so that's something I can never rule out as an opportunity," he said.