Russ Oil-Gas

11 September 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Russian gas giant Gazprom will decide by the middle of next month whether it will involve more partners in the massive Shtokman development, the company's deputy chairman Valery Golubev said today. "We can expand the list of partners by selling 24% in the project's managing company to a partner which has experience in working in hard climate conditions and has relevant technologies," Golubev told Reuters. "I think the decision will be taken in September, mid-October at the latest," he added. Gazprom has already teamed up with France's Total, which will get a 25% stake in the managing company overseeing the Barents Sea project. Other hopefuls include Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro, as well as US supermajor ConocoPhillips.