Gazprom has announced that the development of the vast Shtokman gas field will be put on hold indefinitely until a more cost-effective plan can be worked out. The project has suffered from a series of delays, the latest announced this past June.
Located 550 km offshore in the Arctic Barents Sea, the Shtokman gas field is believed to be one of the world's largest with gas reserves of almost 4 tcm. It was developed by Gazprom in partnership with Total and Statoil. The partners envisioned that Shtokman would begin pipeline deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline in 2016 and liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries from 2017.
A final investment decision could be made in 2014.
Gazprom has a 51% stake in the group, Total has 25% and Statoil has 24%. Statoil already announced in August it was stepping back from its stake and writing off $336m of investment.