Russ Oil-Gas

15 May 2008 – Upstream OnLine – Russian gas giant Gazprom has taken a stake in the planned Rabaska liquefied natural gas project, in Canada, adding that the feedstock for the development will come from the Shtokman field. Gazprom will join Enbridge, Gaz Metro and Gaz de France in the C$840 million (US$838 million) project in Quebec, which had been stalled pending a secure supply of imported LNG. The companies did not say how big Gazprom's stake in the 500 million cubic feet per day project will be, a Reuters report said. However, Rabaska president Glenn Kelly said each of the partners will surrender a portion of their stake. Rabaska LNG is now expected to go ahead in 2014, two to three years later than first envisioned. The date coincides with the scheduled start-up of the Shtokman liquefaction plant. The Rabaska partners have all their regulatory approvals in place, but have yet to start building the project. "We said publicly we wouldn't go ahead with construction until we had an LNG supply, and today has been a significant step toward that," Kelly told Reuters. Construction is now expected to start in 2010, he said. The partners aim to sign definitive agreements bringing Gazprom into the fold before the end of this year.