Chevron Seeks 25% of Gazprom Gas Site MOVERS MARKETPLACE By Bloomberg

Chevron is seeking as much as 25 percent in the Shtokman natural gas project in the Arctic led by Gazprom, which may need $20 billion to develop the site and liquefy the fuel for shipment to the United States.

Trem Smith, the president of Chevron’s Russian unit, said Chevron expected Gazprom, the world’s biggest natural-gas producer, to pick as many as three partners to develop Shtokman. The companies will invest $10 billion in the Arctic project to begin production by 2011 and as much as $20 billion over all, he said.

Gazprom wants to build a plant to convert fuel from the field into 14 million tons a year of natural gas cooled to a liquid for shipment in tankers, so as to expand in the U.S. market. Record oil prices in the past two years have prompted utilities to use more gas. Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled company that is the world’s biggest gas producer, should accelerate development of Shtokman because Russia needs to develop offshore fields to sustain economic growth, Smith said.

Gazprom is choosing partners for Shtokman from among Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips, Norsk Hydro and Statoil. Norsk Hydro has said it seeks a 20 percent stake in the Shtokman project. Statoil and Total have both said they want 25 percent. Gazprom plans to keep more than 50 percent of the project.