New details from Shtokman
In this week’s Arctic Frontier conference in Tromsø, Norway, French oil major Total’s representative in the Shtokman Development Company, Herve Madeo, revealed several details about the Shtokman project
A total of 220 icebergs have been registered in the area of the Shtokman field over the last 48 years, Mr. Madeo told journalists. Ice thickness is up to two meters in the cold season, NRK reports. The difficult climatic conditions will most probably make the Shtokman Development choose a production platform model which has the shape of a ship, thus making it able to manoeuvre in the icy conditions. Mr. Madeo did not comment on whether the platform will be fuelled by nuclear energy, as speculated on by several analysts. He highlighted however that the highest possible level of security will be applied in the project. About 320 people will be working at the Shtokman installations, of them 200 at the production ship and 120 at the land-based facilities, including the LNG plant. In the summer season, an additional up to 150 people will be working with maintenance at the production ship. The company representative’s presentation in the Arctic Frontier was met by major interest from the press. Gazprom and its Shtokman partners Total and StatoilHydro have so far been highly reluctant to reveal information about the project, the biggest offshore gas project in world.
