Shtokman company in the making

StatoilHydro’s inclusion in the Shtokman project has been positively received both by leading political and business circles in Moscow. According to Kommersant, the Russian stockmarket lifted the Gazprom share up one percent after the announcement.

Meanwhile, Norway is celebrating the news, with both the government and the country’s business elite saying that the Shtokman field will have major positive consequences for Norwegian-Russian cooperation in the North. The StatoilHydro share was up four percent yesterday.

In the northern Norwegian border town of Kirkenes, local authorities see the news as a sign of a new golden age coming up for the region.

-Gazprom has chosen the most attractive of the Shtokman bidders, senior analyst in the Antanta-Capital analyse company, Timur Khayrullin, says to Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

The Norwegian Ministry of Oil and Energy writes that the Shtokman consortium will be named The Shtokman Development Company (SDC)

 -With the choice of StatoilHydro, President Putin has made a balanced approach, Director of the East European Gas Analysis company, Mikhail Korchemkin says to Kommersant. He believes the other foreign Shtokman partner Total represents the interests of EU gas importers, while StatoilHydro rather represents the exporters.

Sergey Pravosudov from the Institute of National Energy says to Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Gazprom is likely to have chosen the Norwegian StatoilHydro, and not the other main contender ConocoPhillips, because of the vital importance of the Norwegian technology at this stage of field development. He believes the Americans will be included in the project at a later stage when the LNG is to be exported.

StatoilHydro’s Ola Morten Aanestad says to Vedomosti that the new Shtokman Development Company (SDC) will be formed by the end of 2007, but that the company until the end of 2009 only deal with the feasibility report of the project. After 2009, Gazprom and its partners will decide whether they actually want to implement the project and on which terms the investments will be made, Vedomosti reports. Only then a final partnership agreement will be signed, Mr Aanestad says to the newspaper.

According to head of Sevmorneftegaz, the Gazprom-subsidiary which owns the license to the Shtokman field, the Shtokman operator company is likely to be registered either in the Netherlands or in Switzerland, because “this will be in line with the interests of Gazprom, which can not be supported under Russian legislation”. Mr. Yuri Komarov says the preliminary investments in the field is 15 billion USD and that 40 percent of this will be covered by the Shtokman partners, and 60 percent covered by credits. The Sevmorneftegaz company has already opened a joint office together with Total, Mr. Komarov confirms to Kommersant.

Like Total, also StatoilHydro has to pay 800 million USD in advance for the right to participate in the project, Kommersant reports.

It remains an open question whether the two foreign Shtokman partners will be able to get a share of the Shtokman gas. Gazprom has earlier stated that all the gas will remain its own property. However, Total representatives say that the French company from 2009 will be allowed to register about 150 billion cubic meters of gas on their account.

Gazprom will control the Shtokman Development Company (SDC) with its 51 percent of the shares, while Total and StatoilHydro will be junior partners will their respective 25 percent and 24 percent. According to Vedomosti, several Gazprom officials confirm that StatoilHydro will have less rights in the company management bodies that Total.