Sakhalin-2 extends production licenses to 2031

MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - The operator of the Sakhalin-2 PSA project, Sakhalin Energy LLC, which is owned by Russia's Gazprom and Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi, has extended its production license for the period to 2031.

The licenses to the Lunsky and Piltun-Astokhsky offshore blocks in the Sea of Okhotsk have been extended from May 19, 2026 to May 19, 2031, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Rosgeolfond reported.

The Lunskoye oil and gas condensate field is the main supplier of raw gas to the Sakhalin-2 project's liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. The field, which is singular in terms of the size of its recoverable reserves, is being developed naturally, with the reduction of formation pressure.

Lunskoye is now at the mature stage of development, with more than have of its natural gas reserves tapped and more than 90% of the operating well stock completed. A booster compressor station has been put into operation.

The company is now developing gas deposits in blocks 2-6. Block 1 is not being developed due to its distance from the platform. Gas is produced with one offshore, ice-resistant stationary platform, Lunskaya-A (Lun-A).

In 2023, the Russian Federal Mineral Resources Agency (Rosnedra) central commission for oil and gas field development approved a new scenario for the development of Lunskoye that will make it possible to extend the period of constant production at the field by five years, until 2033, and ensure an increase in recoverable reserves equivalent to several years of production.

The new development plan is also aimed at ensuring uniform gas offtake throughout the year; evening out the formation pressure profile for the field; and increasing the well operation period between overhauls.

The Sakhalin-2 LNG plant in Prigorodny, in the southern part of Sakhalin Island, which went into operation in 2009, produced 10.2 million tonnes of LNG in 2024.