MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] will select partner companies to develop the giant Shtokman gas deposit off Russia's Arctic coast only for reasons of optimum cost-benefit, a Russian presidential aide said Tuesday.
A shortlist of companies competing for the project unveiled last September includes Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro, France's Total, and U.S. giants Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Gazprom will select two or three partners from the shortlist to form a consortium for the project.
Igor Shuvalov said the Russian energy giant needs a partner that will help it "develop the field as successfully and beneficially as possible, with the lowest expenses, and which will supply products to the world market most effectively."
"This is a business project, and Gazprom is responsible for it. Therefore, I would not like to reveal any information on the issue," he said.
Gazprom has repeatedly postponed the selection of Shtokman partners. The event was initially scheduled to take place in spring, then in August, but no partner has been selected so far.
The deposit holds an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate in the Barents Sea, off Russia's Arctic coast. Some $12-14 billion will be invested in the project's first phase, and production will start in 2011.
Gazprom is looking to gain a 25+1% share in the Sakhalin II energy project off the country's Pacific coast in return for a 50% stake in the massive West Siberian Zapolyarnoye-Neocomian project. Shell, which holds a 55% stake in the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, announced last July that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Gazprom on the swap, which it said then was "strategically important to both parties."
With the Russian government seemingly seeking to concentrate the nation's wealth in its own hands - a decision is still hanging in the air as to who will partner with Gazprom in the mammoth Shotkman gas condensate field - the deal has gone no further.
Costs on Sakhalin II have reportedly doubled to about $20 billion with rising commodity prices across the world, which has led Gazprom to say it wants to reduce the stake it would like to offer in Zapolyarnoye-Neocomian, because the value of the Sakhalin asset has fallen.
