RUSSIA’S Vyborg Shipyard has launched the first of two semi-submersible rigs destined for deployment in the Shtokman gas development in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea. The yard has two Shtokman semis on order from Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot, signed in 2007. First to be delivered should be the Polyarnoye Zvezda (Polar Star), with sister Severnoye Siyanie (Northern Light) to follow later.
The topsides for both units are under construction at Samsung in Korea. The completed first rig is expected to be delivered in 2010, the second in 2011.
The vast 130.7trillion cu ft Shtokman gas field, which also holds some 340million barrels of condensate, is operated by Gazprom, with 51% interest, in partnership with Total (25%) and StatoilHydro (24%).
Meanwhile, on July 21, Gazprom revealed in a memorandum accompanying its eurobond statement that it may be necessary to push back the development of Shtokman because of the current weak state of gas markets. It had originally planned to bring the field onstream in 2013 at a production rate of about 2.29billion cu ft per day from phase one. A year later, in 2014, it was to have begun producing some 7.5million tonnes of liquefied natural gas.