Russian state-controlled gas company Gazprom OAO (GAZP.RS) has indefinitely postponed an investment decision on its giant Shtokman gas field, Prime newswire reports Wednesday, citing a source in the company.
"An investment decision on Shtokman is being postponed until better times," Prime quotes its unnamed source as saying.
A spokeswoman for Gazprom declined to comment.
Gazprom's project to develop Shtokman, one of the largest gas fields in the world, with France's Total (TOT) and Norway's Statoil ASA (STO) has been repeatedly delayed amid disagreements over investment terms.
Last month, Statoil said it had written off around $340 million of investment in the project but is still mulling participation. Total has said it is still interested in the project.
Shtokman is located in an extremely challenging Arctic environment in Russia's Barents Sea. The field was discovered more than 20 years ago, but the tremendous technical and cost challenges mean that no project to tap the resources has been realized.