Deputy PM says oil production at Sakhalin-1 falls by 22 times

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Jul 7 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Sakhalin-1 oil production plummeted by 22 times to 10,000 barrels per day due to restrictions and downtime, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said on Thursday at a meeting on oil and gas issues in the Sakhalin Region.

“As for the Sakhalin-1 project, oil production decreased by 22 times from 220,000 barrels per day to 10,000 barrels per day due to imposed restrictions, to a number of reasons,” he said.

The decrease has already affected not only the region’s economy, but the economy of the whole country, Trutnev said.

The Sakhalin Region’s budget will lack “up to 38 billion rubles (of income) in 2023,” he said, adding that the figure accounts for 26% of the region’s own income.

Sakhalin-1 develops the Chaivo, Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi fields on the Sakhalin Island’s shelf, and its total estimated resources stood at 307 million tonnes of oil and 485 billion cubic meters of gas as of 2019.

U.S. ExxonMobil and Japan’s Sodeco own 30% in the project each, while Russian oil major Rosneft and India’ ONGC own 20% each. In March, ExxonMobil said it plans to leave the project. In May, ONGC was reported considering acquiring the U.S. company’s 30% stake.

(62.9110 rubles – U.S. $1)

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