According to Enoksen, the Norwegian government will help promote Gazprom's cooperation with the country's leading energy companies Statoil and Hydro, which are on Gazprom's list of potential partners for the first leg of the Shtokman project.
The list also includes France's Total and U.S. companies Chevron and ConocoPhillips. In early 2006, Gazprom is expected to select two or three partners to launch the project.
The Shtokman gas condensate field is located in the central part of the Russian sector of the Barents Sea, 650 km from the port of Murmansk. The deposit contains an estimated 3.2 trillion cu m of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate.
Norway is the second largest exporter of natural gas to Europe. In 2004, the country exported 75.4 billion cu m of gas to European consumers. Oil and gas account for 15% of Norway's GDP. Norway's natural gas reserves in the North Sea total some 3.29 trillion cu m.
