A shortlist of companies competing for the project unveiled last September includes Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro, France's Total, and U.S. giants Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Gazprom will select two or three partners from the shortlist to form a consortium for the project.
"The matter is on the agenda of the [Gazprom] management committee," said Kirill Androsov, a deputy economic development and trade minister, who is also a member of the energy giant's committee. "A date [for its consideration] is yet to be set."
The deposit holds an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate in the Barents Sea, off Russia's Arctic coast. Some $12-14 billion will be invested in the project's first phase and production will start in 2011.
