petroleumworld

French energy major Total will receive a quarter of the output from the first stage of the vast Shtokman gas field project in northern Russia, the Kommersant daily reported on Wednesday.

The company will also have "wide powers" to participate in managing the project together with Russian gas giant Gazprom, the newspaper said, citing two sources close to the negotiations.

According to an analyst quoted by Kommersant, Total would pay around 800 million dollars for a 25 percent share in output. A Gazprom executive told the daily that this figure was "close to the truth."

Total officials could not immediately be contacted to comment on the report.
Future production during the first stage of the project, which is due to start in 2013, is estimated at 23.7 billion cubic metres per year, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said earlier.

Shtokman, which is located in the Barents Sea, is believed to hold a total 3.7 trillion cubic metres of gas and the cost of the project is estimated at around 20 billion dollars (14.7 billion euros).

Kommersant said that the conditions for participating in the project due to be offered to Norway's Statoil-Hydro and to US energy major Conoco Phillips will not be as attractive as for Total.

Gazprom and Total signed a deal last month to develop the Shtokman field jointly, following a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

AFP 29 0837 GMT 08 07