Murmansk hosted today a working meeting between Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Dmitry Dmitrienko, Governor of the Murmansk Oblast.

The parties discussed the prospects for developing the regional shipbuilding sector placing an emphasis on a possible rise in orders on shipbuilding and offshore platforms construction taking into account intense development of the Russian Arctic shelf.

The parties highlighted that promotion of shipbuilding would be beneficial for the socioeconomic environment in the Murmansk Oblast and create additional workplaces.

Alexander Ananenkov informed Dmitry Dmitrienko on the progress with the Shtokman field development as well as on the gas supply and gasification prospects in the Murmansk Oblast.

Background

Gazprom and the Murmansk Oblast Government entered into the Agreement of Cooperation in November 2005. In furtherance of the Agreement the parties signed in October 2009 the Partnership Agreement over 2010 to 2015.

Gazprom is implementing a number of strategic projects in the Oblast including, first of all, comprehensive development of the Shtokman field and construction of the Murmansk – Volkhov gas trunkline.

Discovered in 1988, the Shtokman gas and condensate field is located in the central part of the Russian sector of the Barents Sea shelf, about 600 kilometers northeast of Murmansk. C1 reserves of the field make up 3.9 trillion cubic meters of gas and 56 million tons of gas condensate, with 3.8 trillion cubic meters of gas and 53.4 million tons of gas condensate located within Gazprom's licensed area.

The field will become a resource base for deliveries of Russian gas, both pipeline and LNG, to the Atlantic basin markets.

The Murmansk – Volkhov gas pipeline will ensure gas supplies from the Shtokmanfield to consumers in Northwestern Russia and gas exports via the Nord Streamgas pipeline. The 1,365-kilometer gas pipeline will have the throughput capacity of up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas depending on the Shtokman field output. The gas pipeline is meant to be a starting point for the first phase of the regional gasification process. At present, natural gas is not supplied to the Murmansk Oblast.