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The world's top gas producer, Gazprom, said on Wednesday there is a "good chance" that all three phases of its Shtokman gas field will be developed into liquefied natural gas (LNG).
"Our decision to switch to 100 percent LNG is a reflection of the supply-demand balance in Europe," Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman of the company's management committee, told reporters at a global gas conference in Kuala Lumpur.
The Shtokman development, which is a partnership between the Russian gas giant, Norway's Statoil and France's Total, has repeatedly been delayed on disagreements over investment volumes.
Total owns 25 percent, Statoil 24 percent and Gazprom the remainder of Shtokman, one of the world's largest gas fields with reserves of 3.7 trillion cubic meters located 550 kilometres (340 miles) offshore in the freezing waters of the Barents Sea.
Last month, Gazprom's chief executive said it was seeking new partners for the Shtokman gas project, and Medvedev said talks with potential partners are continuing, though he would not specify who is under consideration.
When asked if Total and Statoil would remain partners in the development, he said: "They have a chance".
"I do hope that in a very short time a new business model and a new project structure could show up which will allow us not to lose experience accumulated in the previous period," Medvedev said.
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