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Tag: Oil companies

  • Putin urges Shtokman decision

    Putin urges Shtokman decision

    Oil tanker

    Russian president Vladimir Putin urges oil companies to make their final decision on the Shtkoman gas project. The Shtokman area is one of the riches gas wells in the world.

    Putin met with Statoil´s CEO, Helge Lund, on Friday, but Gazprom (owned by the Russian government) is the leading player in the field. Statoil (owned by the Norwegian government) holds a 24 percent share of the Shtokman Development AG, the joint venture responsible for the project. Gazprom holds 51 percent, while Total (from France) holds 25 percent.

    This ownership could change in the nearest future.

    “You have a very good and big project with Gazprom” Putin said to Lund. “The huge production assets of Shtokman have global significance and we have to make active progress,” Putin said, according to the Barents Observer.

    Statoil could exit from the project and discussions with Gazprom are taking place. Speculations surrounding Shell to take over from Statoil have emerged.

    Reports say that Gazprom wants to get rid of Statoil, due to conflicting views on the project development model.

    Statoil has officially supported Gazprom’s intention to skip the project’s pipeline part and instead develop Shtokman as a 100 percent LNG project.

    Statoil has long stressed that project development costs need to be reduced and that tax breaks must be introduced. The development costs for the project’s first phase have reportedly grown to about $30 billion, up from the originally planned $20 billion.

    Statoil has invested around $1.5 billion in the Shtkoman project, which it could lose if pulling out.

    Source

    Barents Observer

  • Norwegian Continental Shelf Interests Oil Companies

    Norwegian Continental Shelf Interests Oil Companies

    Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

    Norwegian Petroleum Directorate/Barents Observer – 37 companies have applied exploration license in the 21st licensing round on the Norwegian continental shelf in the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea areas. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate is very pleased with the number of applications and says that company considered a competent applicant must have technical expertise and a sound understanding of geology in addition to financial strength and experience.

    The Norwegian Pension Fund, in which the petroleum exploitation revenue is saved, is still growing and is now approaching NOK 3000 billion, which is more than one million NOK per each family in Norway. The total Norwegian oil production this year is estimated at 2.2 million barrels a day, which is five percent down from 2009. Gas production in 2010 is expected at 105 billion standard cubic metres, which represents approximately 45 percent of total Norwegian petroleum production.

    The total recoverable resources at the shelf amount to approximately 13.4 billion standard cubic meters oil equivalents. After 40 years of production, nearly sixty percent of the expected resources remain to be produced.