Bloomberg: Statoil In Talks On Shtokman Structure; No Plan To Leave Project

Statoil ASA is in talks on the Shtokman gas project in Russia’s Barents Sea waters and expects a schedule to be set after reaching new agreements with partners led by OAO Gazprom, following repeated delays.

“We have no plans to leave Shtokman,” Peter Mellbye, an executive vice president for international production at the Norwegian energy producer, said today in an interview in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas exporter, may add partners to the Arctic project and seek to focus on producing liquefied natural gas for shipment by tanker. Gazprom, Statoil and their third partner, France’s Total SA, have repeatedly postponed a final investment decision and the start of output as costs rise and demand wanes, while the shale gas boom in the U.S. forced them to reconsider markets.  MORE