RusEnergy

12–11–2006 Kommersant – The offers of western partners concerning participation in the Shtokman field’s development could be considered again, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly announced late past week. “During negotiations with potential partners, Gazprom was aiming at the access to end users of natural gas in Europe and in the United States in exchange for participation in development of this Europe’s biggest field. With no particular success, however. But the topic hasn’t been finally closed yet. It could be raised again if some interesting offers are received from foreign partners,” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said when interviewed by Mexican publisher Mario Vazquez Rana. On the same day, Putin’s aide Igor Shuvalov in Washington and Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko in Moscow spoke about possible and desirable involvement of foreign companies in the Shtokman project “as suppliers of equipment” or “in some other forms”. But it looks like the standing of Russia’s authorities hasn’t gone through material changes. Russia will independently develop the first stage and provisions for joining the project have remained the same. No principal changes have happened for Shtokman so far, sources with Gazprom said off the record. More likely than not, the statements of president and other officials were targeted at reminding the western partners about the possibility of further cooperation and at softening the negative impression that the recent energy moves of the Kremlin generated in the West. Of five western bidders that reached the final stage of Shtokman tender in June of 2006, spokesmen of three companies (Total, ConocoPhilips, Statoil) confirmed they had noticed nothing new in the attitude of Russia’s authorities.