Gazprom has chose French oil company Total to jointly own the Shtokman project company which will own some $16 billion in infrastructure at the 3.6-trillion-cubic metre gas field in the eastern Barents Sea.

A Russian-language statement said Total would come to own 24 percent in Shtokman, although other oil companies could later join for up to 25 percent. Gazprom would retain a controlling 51 percent.

The share in the joint-stock Shtokman company does not grant Total rights in the gas field, the stakes of which will be held by a Gazprom business. Infrastructure building at Shtokman include a plant for liquefied natural gas west of Murmansk, a new oil terminal and oil pipeline from Yamal to Murmansk, a gas pipeline to Vyborg on the Baltic and an unnamed offshore development concept.

A $2 billion overhaul of Murmansk port is separate from the development costs.