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Shtokman moves further out of sight

The enthusiasm for the Shtokman project in the Barents Sea is reaching a new low. Photo: Shtokman.ru

The Shtokman field is unlikely to be launched before after 2030, information from Gazprom indicates.

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The Arctic project, one of the biggest offshore gas fields in the world, is not listed in Gazprom’s production portifolio for year 2020, a recent company presentation showed. The field is on the list of launched projects only in 2030, RBC.ru reports.

The company management admits that there is no concrete date for the project launch. However, it will definitely come “after 2019”, a Gazprom representative told RBC.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin in a recent meeting with Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun underlined that the project will be lauched already in 2017.

After numerous postponements, Statoil in August 2012 confirmed that it was pulling out of the Shtokman Development Company. That decision was followed by a statement by Gazprom Board Member Vsevolod Cherepanov the same month about the development costs being too high for the project to be developed at the current stage.

“The development of the project is postponed to better times”, he said.

At the same time, Gazprom is continuing to add offshore Arctic fields to its licence portifolio. As recently reported, the company is likely to get the government’s blessing for the acquisionon of another 17 licenses in the region.