Total: Shtokman production delayed two years
Jean-Jacques Mosconi, head of strategy in the French Shtokman partner Total SA, said the first gas from Shtokman would begin flowing into export pipelines in 2015, with liquefied natural gas production starting up a year later.
Shtokman gas field will start producing two years later than OAO Gazprom’s planned launch date, said Mosconi according to The Wall Street Journal.
The reason for the delay is the “numerous technical issues” Shtokman presented, he said. Gazprom’s original timetable, which envisaged the development coming on stream in 2013, was “impossible,” he added.
Gazprom officials have also indicated the previous deadline could slip. The company’s deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev told reporters in September that Gazprom could delay Shtokman if gas demand in Europe doesn’t recover fast enough. Later the statement was turned down by Shtokman Development leader Yuri Komarov, who said at the Murmansk Economic Forum that there are no plans to change the deadlines in the Shtokman project.
