Sakhalin-1 Partners Sign Off On LNG Plan

Rosneft and its international partners at the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in the Far East are going ahead with plans to build an LNG export terminal, the Russian company’s head Igor Sechin told an industry conference on September 5.

“This year, shareholders made a decision to build our own LNG plant in De Kastri,” Sechin said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, according to a Rosneft statement. The plant’s capacity would be 6.2mn mt/yr.

Rosneft is joined at Sakhalin-1 by ExxonMobil, Japan’s Sodeco and India’s ONGC Videsh (OVL). The group has held on-again, off-again discussions for years on an LNG project, which would  monetise gas from the Arkutun-Dagi, Chayvo and Odoptu oilfields off the east coast of Sakhalin. They also held talks in the past with Gazprom on an alternative plan that would see Sakhalin-1’s gas used to expand output at the nearby Sakhalin-2 LNG terminal. The two sides were unable to strike a deal on price, however.

Rosneft has long aspired to join Gazprom and private rival Novatek in the LNG production business. But it has struggled to advance projects. Its 2.6mn mt/yr Pechora LNG plan was quietly shelved last year after authorities denied it an export licence.