Shtokman FID Postponed Again

The Shtokman consortium has announced that a final investment decision (FID) on the Shtokman project has once more been delayed. A statement from the company says a new FID date has been set for 1 July 2012.

This is the third time the FID on the project has been delayed recently, with concerns over a lack of tax breaks from the Russian government previously motivated the postponement of the decision.

The partners in the project say that technical and financial considerations were the reason for this delay.

"The shareholders are confident that the project can be improved further, both technically and economically," the consortium Shtokman Development AG said today. "The shareholders decided to extend the framework agreements till July 1, 2012."

The partners in the project are Gazprom (51 per cent), Total (25 per cent) and Statoil (24 per cent).

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the heads of Total, Christophe de Margerie and Statoil, Helge Lund today that Russia was created favourable tax decisions for the Shtokman project.

"You know, we have reached several decisions on taxation right at the federal level and at the regional level-the Murmansk [regional] authorities have also passed the corresponding decisions, which create good conditions for developing Shtokman," Interfax reports him as saying. 

The Shtokman project is a massive gas project on the Arctic shelf which has estimated reserves of approximately 3.8 trillion cubic metres of gas and around 53.3 million tonnes of gas condensate.