07 June 2004 06:18
Shtokmanskoye on the stocks?
Russian gas behemoth Gazprom has opened talks with ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch/Shell
over development of the giant Shtokmanskoye gas field in the Barents Sea.
The company is keen to secure an agreement this year to start development of the field, which has been the subject of
intermittent discussions for more than 10 years.
Gazprom envisions that Shtokmanskoye output will be processed at a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the
Baltic coast near St Petersburg.
This would entail an overland pipeline from the Barents to the Baltic. The strategic advantage is that it will avoid
the need for LNG carriers to navigate the Barents during the winter, though the debate has yet to be had about gas
carriers using the Skagerrak/Kattegat waterway that connects the Baltic with the North Sea and which is spanned by the
giant Oresund bridge connecting Denmark with Sweden.
[Aberdeen Press & Journal (UK)] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
