Layer of Chtokman

The layer of Chtokman (in Russian, Штокман) is one of the greatest reserves of Natural gas in the world. It is located in the Russian part of the Mer of Barents, 650 km in the north of the Péninsule of Cola and in the west of the Nova Zembla. Its reserves are estimated at: 3200 G.m³ - is some 2 % of conventional gas world reserves and more twice reserves of the Canada, third producer country. The layer is located at 350 m of depth on average.

Conditions of operating

Its natural gas reserves were discovered in 1988, but the layer was not exploited yet because of the conditions of extraction Arctique S and its depth. Moreover, the layer is located at 500 km of the coasts, which poses two serious problems. This distance prohibits first of all the use of Hélicoptère S to ensure the rotation of the personnel and the supply. It will then be necessary to build a underwater Gazoduc 500 km length, that is to say four times more than that of the project Snøhvit in the Norwegian sector, whose construction encounters considérables difficulties; ; once completed, it will be the longest underwater gas pipeline of the world in polar medium.

User licenses

Two Russian companies obtained user licenses for this layer: Sevmorneftegaz (a subsidiary company of Gazprom) and Gazprom. Gazprom has the rights until in 2010. The layer would supply a large terminal of export of Natural gas liquefied.

In September 2005, Gazprom launched an international invitation to tender to create a Consortium aiming to the exploitation of the layer. The costs of exploitation are estimated at 15 billion USD. It is expected that the selected companies obtain 49 % of the rights on the consortium, Gazprom by preserving 51 %. Five companies were preselected:

two Norwegian companies : Statoil and Norsk Hydro,
a French company : Total SA
two companies étatsuniennes: Rafter Corporation and ConocoPhillips.

The decision on the partners chosen by Gazprom was initially planned for the April 15th 2006 and according to the Russian daily newspaper Vedomosti , the two Norwegian companies should be combined in a consortium, the two companies étatsuniennes also, these two consortia will become the partners of Gazprom, which let predict that Total would not be then probably selected.

In October 2006, Gazprom announces its intention to develop only the layer. According to some, the entry in production in 2011 seems impossible to realize, because Gazprom does not have experience in production Offshore. Nevertheless, the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant believes it that the decision of Gazprom to develop only the layer is due to new estimates which indicate that the layer richer than is provided and thus that the financial risks are less.

However on July 12th, 2007, Gazprom changes opinion and announces that Total will obtain 25 % of the shares of the consortium. The cost estimated of the infrastructure to set up to exploit the layer of Chtokman is estimated into 20 and 30 billion dollars of the United States.

Random links: