Interviewed by Reuters, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Prime Minister has invited all those who are interested in working on Yamal. So far 11 gas and 15 oil and gas condensate fields are discovered on Yamal.
The foreign companies believed to meet Putin in Salekhard are Gazprom’s Shtokman partners StatoilHydro and Total. Also, Shell, Exxon Mobile and ConocoPhillips are among the companies Reuters lists as possible attendees.
Last week, BarentsObserver reported that Norwegian oil major StatoilHydro was looking for more business opportunities in Russia, including the Yamal Peninsula. StatoilHydro is the only company that operates a LNG-plant in the Arctic today. The Melkøya plant in Finnmark process natural gas from the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea.
In June Gazprom announced that both Total and Shell are on the shortlist as possible partners for the planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to be built on the Yamal Peninsula, as reported by BarentsObserver.
According to Reuters, the foreign oil majors invited to discuss how to tap the gas reserves on Yamal hope to hear about tax breaks and the easing of regulations.
Gazprom has postponed the launch of the Bovanenkovo field on Yamal to 2012. Observers believe Gazprom needs both foreign oil companies technology and investment capital to launch huge projects on Yamal.
