Gazprom looks to 2010 for Shtokman field

MOSCOW, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Construction of the first drilling rig for the Shtokman gas and condensate field in the Barents Sea is slated for the fourth quarter of 2010, Gazprom said.

Alexander Ananenkov, deputy chairman for Gazprom on the Shtokman field, chaired a meeting in Moscow on the implementation of the first phase of the project. Gas condensate transmission and storage were the focus of the meeting, said the Russian gas monopoly.

French supermajor Total and StatoilHydro, now Statoil, signed a shareholder agreement in 2008 on a special-purpose company tasked with implementing the engineering, development, construction, financing and operation of the first phase for Shtokman field development.

The Shtokman field is one of the largest in the world. It is expected to produce as much as 794 billion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 200,000 tons of gas condensate per year in the initial stages of development.

Gazprom said the first semisubmersible drilling rig is slated for construction in late 2010 with a second installation planned for 2011.