MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) - Companies...

"To date, about $500 million has been spent, in proportion with the stakes of participants," Shtokman Development AG"s managing director Yury Komarov said, adding that Gazprom accounted for half the amount.

Gazprom has a 51% stake in the project, while France"s Total and Norway"s StatoilHydro have 25% and 24%, respectively.

Komarov previously said $1 billion would need to be invested at the initial stage. Total costs are expected at $30 billion.

He also said Shtokman Development AG could start talks with Russian and Western banks to provide funding for the project in late 2009-early 2010, and that at least 60% of the project costs would be met through loans.

Shtokman, with estimated reserves of 3.8 trillion cubic meters, is to feed Nord Stream, a gas pipeline set to link Russia and the European Union via the Baltic Sea.