Russian Minister Says No Tax Breaks Yet for Shtokman

Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Shatalov has said that no tax breaks have yet been decided for the Shtokman project and says the government is waiting on more information from the project's consortium to make its decision.

While he said the government understood that the tax breaks were essential to the project, the financial aspects were difficult to traverse and would take time.

"We understand that some tax breaks are required, that it won't succeed without them, but the range of tax breaks, their parameters, are difficult to predict," he told reporters.

The government was so far not satisfied with the information supplied to it by Shtokman's stakeholders, Gazprom, Statoil and Total and needed greater information to come to a decision.

"They (the stakeholders) have given us and the Ministry of Finance some data which in my view does not allow us to make any strategic decision," he said. "The figures they have presented for output dynamics and reserves are all subject to questions."

The Shtokman project, a massive gas and condensate field on the Russian Artic shelf, is reliant on tax breaks to make it financially viable. So far, the need for tax breaks on the project has seen the final investment decision (FID) on the project delayed several times, with the FID currently expected by April of this year.