The Ministry of Energy assessed the risk of mothballing wells at the Sakhalin 1 project

MOSCOW, 29 Sep — PRIME. The Russian Ministry of Energy is counting on the speedy resumption of oil and gas production at the Sakhalin 1 project, has options for its launch, while there is no risk of conservation of wells at the project due to its shutdown, Anton Rubtsov, director of the oil and gas complex department of the ministry, said.

Governor of the Sakhalin Region Valery Limarenko said on Wednesday that oil and gas production at the Sakhalin 1 project had been completely suspended. According to him, the annual production at the project will be 4.2 million tons instead of the planned 8.9 million tons.

Answering the question of journalists on the sidelines of the Sakhalin Oil and Gas forum whether there is a threat of conservation of wells in connection with this, Rubtsov said: “No, we are not considering such an option. this important Russian project.”

“The Ministry of Energy, together with companies, is doing the necessary work. As you know, now gas is provided by Sakhalin 2, there will also be gas from Gazprom. There is an understanding of what options there are for launching this project,” he added.

ExxonMobil’s subsidiary remains the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project and owns a 30% stake in it. In March, she announced her intention to withdraw from the project, and in April she announced a force majeure regime, as a result of which the project was almost stopped. The Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation expects that production will be restored before the end of 2022, despite the position of ExxonMobil. Also shareholders of Sakhalin-1 are Rosneft (20%), Japanese Sodeco (30%) and Indian ONGC (20%).