The Shtokman deposit, 650km (400 miles) from the Barents Sea port of Murmansk, holds an estimated 3.2 trillion cu m of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate. The short list of partners to work with Gazprom on the project includes Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro, France's Total, and U.S. giants Chevron and ConocoPhillips.
But Alexander Medvedev was cautious over whether an April deadline given by another senior executive to consider the bids would be met.
"Little time is left to solve this issue as the offers made by the short-listed companies needs to be analyzed additionally," he said.
Earlier, Gazprom Deputy Board Chairman Alexander Ryazanov said the company would announce a list of partners for the Shtokman gas field in April. He said investment in the first stage of the gas field's development would equal $12-14 billion and the company would start producing gas from the Shtokman field from 2011.
Medvedev also said Gazprom expected to sign a cooperation agreement with Germany's BASF on April 26.
Under the agreement, Wintershall, a subsidiary of BASF, will join Gazprom to develop the Yuzhno-Russky gas field on the Yamal Peninsula in West Siberia, which has an estimated 688 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves. The gas field is going to be the main supplier of gas for the North European Gas Pipeline across the Baltic Sea floor.
