Shtokman AG: No Liquidation of Operations

A spokesperson for the Shtokman Development AG has said that business continues as normal while decisions are beinbg made on the project, with no liquidation of the company at present.

Speaking to Bloomberg via telephone today, Sergei Vykhukholev urged patience and said that no such decisions had been made.

"There is no liquidation, the company continues operations," Bloomberg reports him as saying today. "Let’s wait for decisions that shareholders are to make in St. Petersburg."

The answer comes following media speculation, particularly in Russian newspaper Vedemosti, that Gazprom was seeking to wind down the Shtokman consortium, instead seeking to make a previously rumoured deal with Shell.

The paper said that unnamed but reliable sources had informed it that Gazprom planned to fire all staff in the Shtokman Development AG venture in preparation for the beginning of a new venture for the troubled project.

Gazprom is the operator of the Shtokman Development AG with a 51 per cent stake. Statoil, which has previously voiced doubts about the future of the project and which is rumoured to be leaving the project, and Total hold the remaining 24 and 25 per cent stakes respectively.

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