in August 1995, Gazprom and Rosshelf signed a letter of intent with Norsk Hydro of Norway, Conoco Inc. of the United States, Neste Oy of Finland, and TotalEnergies of France to evaluate the possible joint development of Shtokman field.

[5][6] On 13 July 2007, Gazprom and French energy company TotalEnergies signed a framework agreement to organize the design, financing, construction and operation of the Shtokman phase one infrastructure.

[10] Due to the global LNG oversupply and the United States shale gas, the shareholders of the project decided in 2010 to postpone it for 3 years.

[14] In August 2012, Gazprom put the project on hold with a final investment decision on the first phase postponed until at least 2014, citing high costs and low gas prices.

[18] The field so far was not developed owing to extreme Arctic conditions and the depth of the sea varying from 320 to 340 metres (1,050 to 1,120 ft).

[19] Russian scientists have warned that the Shtokman's development may face problems as global warming unleashes vast icebergs into the Arctic.

[20] The Shtokman Development Company plans to address this challenge by using floating removable platforms, which can be moved around in case of emergency situations.

Later it was indicated by Gazprom that the majority of produced natural gas would be sold to Europe via the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

[26][27] WorleyParsons and its subsidiary INTECSEA will perform FEED of the production vessel, which will process produced gas before transportation onshore.

[7][31][32] Shtokman Development AG was to bear all financial, geological and technical risks related to the production activities.