Shtokman field

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The Shtokman field (also: Stockman field; in Russian: Штокмановское месторождение), one of the world's largest natural gas fields, lies in the Russian portion of the Barents Sea, 600 km north of Kola Peninsula. Its reserves are estimated at 3.2 trillion m³. The sea depth in the area averages about 350 m.

Natural gas reserves were discovered in 1988, but the field was not developed owing to extreme arctic conditions and the depth of the sea.

The Shtokman field is controlled by Gazprom. Two Russian companies hold licenses to develop Shtokman: Sevmorneftegaz (a subsidiary of Gazprom) and Gazprom as a parent company.

In September 2005, Gazprom selected five companies - Statoil and Norsk Hydro from Norway, Total from France and Chevron Corporation and ConocoPhillips from the US - as finalists in a search for partners to develop the field. In October 2006, Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller annocunced that none of the five foreign companies shortlisted in September would be offered minority stakes in the project. Gazprom will now develop the field by itself but would consider foreign companies to work as subcontractors in helping to develop the field. The reason for the rejection of the bid was "The foreign companies could not offer assets that compare to the volume and quality of Shtokman's reserves."

The development costs are estimated at USD15 billion to USD20 billion. The gas production is planned to be running by 2015. All extraction facilities will be located under water. Originally it was thought the production would be shipped via LNG to the United States; however, Gazprom has now indicated that the majority of it would be sold to Europe via the planned Nord Stream pipeline. For this purpose, the pipeline from the Shtokman field to the Murmansk Oblast and further via Kola peninsula to Volkhov in the Leningrad Oblast will be built. The project of LNG production is delayed until after 2013. The LNG plant will be laid most likely in Vidyaevo, Murmansk Oblast.