Shtokman Development Company declared open

The heads of the companies Gazprom, Total and StatoilHydro yesterday met in Moscow to officially establish the Shtokman Development Company.

Gazprom’s Aleksey Miller, Total’s Christophe de Margerie and StatoilHydro’s Helge Lund in the meeting all highlighted the three companies’ unique experiences and joint possibilities in the project.

“This strategic partnership of our companies brings together long experience, vast resources and advanced technologies which are fundamental to the success of this unique project, which will guarantee reliable and long-term gas supplies for European consumers. The establishment of the Shtokman Development Company marks the starting point in the realization of the development of the Shtokman field,” said Alexey Miller, a press release from the company reads.

“The creation of this joint company by Gazprom, Total and StatoilHydro is a major milestone allowing us to combine our forces and experiences in large developments in harsh and remote environment to meet the challenges of the Shtokman project,” said Christophe de Margerie.

“Shtokman can become a locomotive for new developments in the arctic region, with safe operations under cold and harsh condition. We look forward to the next stages in cooperating with Gazprom and Total on this large and challenging project by contributing with our competence and experience from the Norwegian Continental Shelf,” said Helge Lund.

The Shtokman Development company will be responsible for project engineering, development, construction, financing and exploitation of first phase of the project. The company is registered in Zug, Switzerland, the very same place as the Nord Stream company

A socalled project definition phase will last until late 2009, whereupon both Total and StatoilHydro will have to decide whether they take part in the actual implementation phase of the project.

Gazprom remains the majority owner of the company with its 51 percent stake. Total owns a 25 percent stake, while StatoilHydro has 24 percent.

The press release is also available on StatoilHydro’s website

Powered by Labrador CMS