MOSCOW, April 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom said Thursday it had held talks with U.S. energy giant ConocoPhilips and France's Total on a project to develop a major natural gas field off Russia's arctic coast.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller met with ConocoPhillips president and executive director Jim Malva and Total chairman and CEO Thierry Desmarest following this week's meetings with senior representatives of the companies on the shortlist for the project's first stage, which includes the construction of a natural gas liquefaction plant.

Other companies vying for the Shtokman project include two Norwegian companies, Hydro and Statoil, and U.S. company ChevronTexaco.

Gazprom said Monday its potential partners in the Shtokman development project had until the end of the week to amend their proposals. The company said it would choose two or three partners for a consortium to run the project.

Gazprom is expected to unveil its choice of partner before April 15.

The Gazprom-operated Shtokman natural gas field is estimated to contain 3.2 trillion cu m of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate.

According to the Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry, natural gas production at the Shtokman field on terms of a product sharing agreement may start in 2010.