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Putin on phone over Shtokman



By Upstream staff 

Norway's prime minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation on Friday about Norwegian help in developing Gazprom's Shtokman gas field, Norway's government has said.

"There was telephone contact between Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and President Putin about Norway's participation in Shtokman," Trude Maaseide, head of communication at Stoltenberg's office, told Reuters. She declined to give further details.

In July, Putin called French President Nicolas Sarkozy just before Gazprom announced it had picked France's Total to help it develop Shtokman.

Norwegian energy group Statoil said its chief executive was in Moscow on Friday to discuss Shtokman, a giant gas field off of Russia's northern tip in the Barents Sea.

"We are in ongoing talks," a Statoil spokesman said.

Analysts have said that Gazprom could use Statoil's project expertise and technology to tap the hard to reach Shtokman field, which holds enough gas to supply the world for a year.


Monday, 24 September, 2007, 14:50 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 24 September, 2007, 14:57 GMT

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