Norway's StatoilHydro clinches Russian gas field deal

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

MOSCOW (AFP) — The Kremlin said on Thursday that Norway's StatoilHydro had won the right to join in developing the vast Shtokman gas field, ending long uncertainty over one of the world's largest untapped deposits.

The Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg had spoken by phone to discuss the achievement of an "agreement on the participation of the Norwegian company StatoilHydro in the development of the Shtokman gas field."

The project signifies "a new strategic level of cooperation in the energy sector," the Kremlin said in a statement.

In Oslo StatoilHydro said that the deal, to be signed on Thursday, would give it a "24 percent equity interest in Shktokman Development Company," which will develop the vast...