Russ Oil-Gas

31.10.2006 The St. Petersburg Times - Gazprom delayed the start of production at its giant Shtokman offshore natural gas field in the Arctic by two years, to 2013, Interfax said Sunday.The company had planned to produce its first liquefied natural gas, or LNG, at the field in July 2011, deputy CEO Alexander Ananenkov said in Ufa on Sunday, Interfax reported. Gazprom this month said it would develop the $20 billion field itself, spurning offers from Western producers including Chevron and Total to exploit the country's biggest untapped gas deposit. Gazprom initially planned to ship Shtokman's output as LNG to theUnited States to break into the world's largest energy market. The field has 3.7 trillion cubic meters of gas, enough to supply the United States for more than five years. Gazprom will concentrate instead on supplying Europe via a pipeline to Germany being built under the Baltic Sea.