INTERVIEW-Gazprom says politics will not derail Shtokman

By Wojciech Moskwa

STAVANGER, Norway, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Strained politicial and military relations between Moscow and the West will not derail Russian gas group Gazprom's (GAZP.MM) giant Shtokman project in the Arctic, the Shtokman Development AG said.

Ties between Moscow and NATO members, including Norway and France whose StatoilHydro (STL.OL) and Total (TOTF.PA) are minority partners in Shtokman, have hit post-Cold War lows after Russia's military foray into Georgia this month.

"Of course we would like to have quiet politics... (but) politics will not stop this project," Yuri Komarov, chief executive of 51-percent Gazprom-owned Shtokman Development AG, told Reuters late on Wednesday.

"It's more a question whether we can do this complex project -- and I am certain we can," he said on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference in western Norway.

Komarov earlier told the ONS conference that Shtokman would balance the interests of Kremlin-controlled Gazprom and its foreign partners, which are expected to provide much of the technology for the complex Barents Sea field development.

Gazprom, StatoilHydro and Total are due to make a final investment decision on Shtokman in the second half of 2009. Komarov said the main deals with Shtokman contractors should be signed in late 2009 or early 2010.

The Shtokman field holds an estimated 3.8 trillion cubic metres of gas, enough to meet global demand for a year. The first part of the project is seen costing at least $15 billion.

To provide additional electricity for the onshore part of the project near Murmansk in northwest Russia, a gas-fired power plant will be built, Komarov told Reuters. (Editing by James Jukwey)