France asked Russia to provide tax benefits for the development of the Shtokman offshore gas field in Russia’s Arctic during an intergovernmental meeting between Prime Ministers Vladimir Putin and Francois Fillon on Friday.
“The French party thinks that development of the Shtokman field will need changes in tax terms, including exemption from production taxes and export fees, taking into account the high cost of the project,” the two delegations said in a joint statement.
The Shtokman offshore field is one of the world’s largest gas deposits on the shelf. Gazprom is the license holder for the deposit. Its partners in the project are France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil.
The deposit’s reserves amount to 3.9 trillion cubic meters of natural gas of C1 category and 56.1 million tons of gas condensate, with 3.8 trillion cm of natural gas and 53.4 million tons of gas condensate located within Gazprom’s license area.
The Russian party has asked France to assist in concluding an agreement with the EU on cooperation to implement cross-border infrastructure projects of natural gas export, including the South Stream pipeline project intended to carry Russian gas on the bed of the Black Sea to Europe.
Russia wants France to help positioning South Stream as a project of European interest.
Russia’s Gazprom gas export monopoly has 50 percent in the project, while Electricite de France and Germany’s Wintershall will each get 15 percent and Italy’s Eni – 20 percent.
During the intergovernmental meeting, the delegations also signed joint agreements on energy sphere.
Russia’s largest hydropower company, RusHydro, signed an agreement with France’s Alstom on the upgrade and reconstruction of power-generating equipment at Russian company’s units in Eastern Siberia and theFar East and the introduction of innovations in coal use at power-generating plants.
“We share our experience and competence with our partner … where it is needed. We also plan to cooperate in the construction of new power-generating capacities,” president of Alstom Russia Philippe Pegorier told RIA Novosti.
Alstom also signed an agreement with Complex Energy Systems firm, Russia’s full-cycle power-generating units maker, to set up a joint venture company on a parity basis from 2012 to design and implement projects of high-voltage direct current transmission.
“The aim of the joint venture is a higher localization of our experience in developing dc systems in Saint Petersburg, it means transfer of our most advanced technologies. The venture will tender for building dc substations, particularly for the Leningradskaya nuclear power station-Finland energy bridge project,” President of Alstom Grid Gregoire Poux-Guillaume said.
