Citing “changes in the market situation and particularly in the LNG market,” Shtokman Development AG has delayed by 3 years the start-up of production from Shtokman gas-condensate field in the Barents Sea. The partnership of Gazprom, Total, and Statoil said final investment decisions on pipeline gas will be made in March 2011 and on LNG before the end of 2011.

That schedule will allow for the start of pipeline gas production in 2016 and of LNG in 2017, each 3 years later than initially planned. The field, discovered in 1988, holds an estimated 135 tcf (3,8 trillion m³) of recoverable gas. It lies in 1,100 ft (335m) of water near the edge of winter sea ice.

The Shtokman partners have decided to treat offshore production facilities, the pipeline to shore, and onshore gas treatment as a stage in the first phase of the development project separate from LNG work.

The first phase targets production of 2.4 bcfd (68 million m³/day) of gas from 20 producing wells drilled from three subsea templates. It includes installation of a floating production unit, construction of two dual-phase pipelines to shore, construction of a liquefaction plant at Teriberka, and a link to the North Stream pipeline serving Europe.

Fonte: Oil&Gas Journal, fevereiro/10