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The state orders Exxon Neftegaz to sell gas in Russia

The consortium for the development of the Sakhalin-1 project yesterday officially received recommendations from government representatives on gas sales. According to the press center of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, a meeting of the authorized state body (AGO) on this project was held. “State representatives informed the consortium of investors about the priority for the Russian Federation of gas supplies from Sakhalin-1 to the domestic market. Following the meeting of the UGO, a decision was signed to develop this option as a priority,” the press release says. In addition, the investor should intensify negotiations with Gazprom as the coordinator of the program for creating a unified system of production, transportation and gas supply in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, taking into account the possible export of gas to the markets of China and other Asia-Pacific countries.

The project operator Exxon Neftegaz claims that, despite the recommendations, they continue to consider all possibilities for selling gas, including direct sales to the Chinese CNPC. “We are interested in selling gas as quickly and as expensively as possible,” the Moscow representative office of Exxon Mobil told Vremya Novostei. The Gazprom press service declined to comment.

According to a Vremya Novostey source in the Ministry of Industry and Energy, based on the forecast made in the regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East (without the Magadan region), the demand for gas in the base case is estimated at 14.5 and 16.4 billion cubic meters, respectively, in 2020 and 2030 In the target version, demand is expected to be higher - 24.3 and 29.75 billion cubic meters, and in the intensive version even more - 37.9 and 43.35 billion cubic meters, respectively.

But the program itself has not yet been adopted by the government, which means it has the status of a project. In mid-June, at a meeting of the government commission on the fuel and energy complex, which was chaired personally by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, it passed zero reading. And although it was verbally supported, including by the head of the White House, in fact it was aimed at finalization until the fall. Vremya Novostey's government sources admit that there was no government directive regarding recommendations to the operator of Sakhalin-1. True, the protocol of the state commission for the development of the Far East dated June 19 contains an order for the Ministry of Industry and Energy and the administration of the Sakhalin region to ensure that decisions are made within the framework of the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects on priority supplies to consumers in the Far Eastern regions. But the main thing is that officials acted in accordance with the political will of the country’s leadership, which has more than once hinted to Exxon Neftegaz the need to forget about independent gas exports. So, at the end of last year, Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Viktor Ishaev, ordered him to forget about extending the Sakhalin-Komsomolsk-on-Amur-Khabarovsk gas pipeline (it now carries gas produced from the Sakhalin-1 fields) to China .

Sakhalin-1 includes three licensed oil and gas fields (Chayvo, Arktun-Dagi, Odoptu-More), developed by a consortium of investors under the terms of a production sharing agreement. In the operating company, the American ExxonMobil owns 30%, the Japanese SODECO - 30%, the Indian ONGC and Rosneft - 20% each. Currently, about 1 billion cubic meters of gas are produced per year, and this gas is supplied to the Khabarovsk Territory. After reconstruction of the gas pipeline and as Khabarovskenergo’s needs grow, the volume can be increased to 3 billion cubic meters. The design level of production is 10-12 billion cubic meters per year. However, Exxon Neftegaz has not yet been able to agree on the sale of approximately 8 billion cubic meters of gas.

By law, gas from Sakhalin-1 can be sold bypassing Gazprom (current PSA projects are not subject to the Law on Gas Export, which secured the exclusive right to sell abroad to the gas monopolist), but the state has a lot of tools not to let this happen. The recommendations issued are one of the softest tools for officials to influence foreign investors.

Alexey GRIVACHS