France’s oil and gas giant Total is reported to have written off its investment into the Shtokman project.

      According to The Wall Street Journal, the French company has given up on the joint venture with Russia’s Gazprom.

      Earlier, Russia-IC reported that Gazprom admitted that the development of one of major gas fields in Russia is mostly likely to be shelved due to the high costs of implementation.

      The project was supposed to be run together by Russia’s Gazprom, Norway’s Statoil and France’s Total but the parties have not found an operational model that would be economically viable. Recently, Statoil sold off its stake to Gazprom.

      According to the project’s official website, the Shtokman structure was identified in 1981 from offshore geophysical surveys performed by Sevmorneftegeofizika specialists on board the research vessel Professor Shtokman, which gave its name to the field. Geological study of the field was launched at the same time. In 1988 the first exploration well, with a design depth of 4500 meters, was drilled. Drilling was completed on July 27, 1988 at 3153 meters. Well testing resulted in the discovery of two formations of free gas and gas condensate, and as of January 1, 1989 more than 2.4 trillion cubic meters of commercial-grade free gas was added to the state reserves balance. The field is located in the central part of the shelf zone in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea.