Russian energy: Europe's pride, US's envy

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HJ14Ag01.html

Buried beneath the heaps of hot words on North Korea's nuclear test, the announcement in Moscow on Monday about the Shtokman natural-gas deposit off Russia's Arctic coast almost escaped attention, despite its comparable lethal fallout in world politics.

Undoubtedly, Gazprom's statement shook up the world energy scene - and the calculus of European politics. Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, announced that it would develop on its own without foreign companies the fabulous Shtokman deposit, holding an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 31 million tonnes of gas condensate in the Barents Sea, 360 kilometers off the coast, at a depth of 320 meters.

And most significant, Gazprom also said it would send most of the gas from the giant Arctic Shtokman field to Europe, rather than to the United States.

Shtokman was initially expected to yield 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually, of which 22-24bcm would be converted into 15 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be exported by ship to the US. With design capacity achieved, the field will be able to produce 70-90bcm, which is more than, say, Norway's entire annual output.

It is estimated that the first stage of the project alone requires an investment of US$12 billion to $14 billion. The shortlist of companies competing for the project included Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro, France's Total, and US giants Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

Gazprom was considering giving 49% of the Shtokman project to foreign companies, but its chairman, Alexei Miller, stated in Moscow on Monday, "Foreign companies failed to offer assets commensurate with the volume and quality of the Shtokman deposit's reserves." Gazprom will now instead consider appointing foreign companies as "contractors".

[OllieLotte]

1. I don't understand why Europe should so proud. n/t

[NNN0LHI]

2. They got the gas n/t