The company has drafted a concept to produce and transport liquefied natural gas, which envisages emergence in the US market by 2010, he announced to journalists.
Gazprom has close contacts with US-based companies even now. Memorandums have been signed with many of them. Among tentative partners, Mr. Ryazanov highlighted the US Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Texaco Sempra Energy, Canada's PetroCanada, and the Norwegian-based Statoil and Norsk Hydro.
"These are all very strong companies. With our memos, we aim to find partners for Stockman deposit development and liquefied gas exports to the United States. This search is very urgent. We mean to be ready with it by the middle of this year, at the latest. There will be two or three partners.
"As soon as we choose them, we can go to the government to negotiate on production-sharing contract terms."
The choice of partners will mainly depend on which company comes up with the best terms. What matters even more is the prospective partner's chance to sell gas in America.
Next, the partners must possess technologies of gas extraction in the North Sea. "US and Canadian companies, to say nothing of Norwegian, have such experience."
To get the project going, Gazprom ought to join hands with a company necessarily based in America, and which has a very lucrative position in the American market. "The Chevron and ConocoPhillips certainly have vast experience in this respect," remarked the Gazprom representative.
Last but not least, the partner must be very well-off: Gazprom has roughly evaluated even the initial Stockman project stage, gas extraction, liquefying and shipment, at $10 billion.
"It would be quite a problem for Gazprom to fund the endeavor single-handed. We see we shall have to borrow on a project financing pattern," pointed out Mr. Ryazanov.
His company has to be very quick if it really wants to appear in the American LNG market. "We can secure a place in that market, that's sure but we must hurry. As I see the matter, we ought to advertise even now our appearance there, which we expect late in 2010 or early the next year."
Access to resources is of vital importance to American companies. "The US Administration is willing to see Russia in that market" for the sake of energy security. Gazprom, on its part, needs a diversified export geography.
The US liquefied gas market is making rapid progress. In fact, it is the world's leader in that field, and it is a lucrative market for Gazprom. "We are eager to come to the American market and take part in gas distribution and supply to the end user. We make it a point to engage in the entire process, deposit development, liquefied gas production, transport, and work in the US market."
Gazprom does not presently see whatever bad technological problems in developing the Stockman gas condensate deposit for liquefied gas exports to the US, Mr. Ryazanov pointed out.
"The Stockman is our most promising project of all, and we think it offers excellent prospects to liquefy natural gas. Its design output is somewhere near an annual 100 billion cubic meters of gas. It will keep around 30 billion at the very start, of which 22 to 24 billion cubic meters will be liquefied to produce up to 15 million tons of LNG for America - an amount to reckon with," said the Gazprom boss.
The Stockman gas condensate deposit, in the Barents Sea center, is evaluated at 3.2 trillion cubic meters of gas plus 31 million tons of gas condensate. Preparations for its development are made with an account for prospective LNG exports to the US and other countries.
