Sakhaln-1 production curtailed by decision of Exxon yet to resume, operatorship yet to be transferred - Rosneft

MOSCOW. Aug 4 (Interfax) - Oil production under the Sakhaln-1 production-sharing agreement, curtailed by decision of project operator Exxon, has yet to be restored, and there has been no information about operatorship functions being transferred to anyone else, Russia's Rosneft , which owns 20% of the project, said in a statement.

"On March 1, ExxonMobil said it was curtailing its activities and withdrawing from all projects in Russia. On April 26, the company unilaterally, without coordination this with other participants in the Sakhalin-1 project, began a phased stoppage of production. On May 6, the last tanker was shipped with oil from the De Kastri terminal. Since May 15, production activities at the project have practically come to a standstill," Rosneft said.

As of today, tank farms at De Katri are 95% full and oil is not being shipped.

"The Russian government, the Energy Ministry and Sakhalin Region government, together with other project shareholders, are making efforts to restore production activity at the Sakhalin-1 project. Regrettably, despite this, production activity on the project has not been restored at present," Rosneft said.

"Rosneft has no information about the decisions taken to transfer the operatorship function for the project from Exxon Neftegas Limited," it said.