Putin extended the period for the sale of ExxonMobil’s stake in Sakhalin-1 to a year

The term for the sale of ExxonMobil’s share in the Sakhalin-1 PSA project for oil production from the Sakhalin shelf has been extended from four months to one year. The decree was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Document published on the official Internet portal of legal information.

The changes were made to the Decree dated October 7, 2022, which initially determined the period for the sale of the unclaimed share of foreign partners in the new operator of the Sakhalin-1 project at four months.

ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Exxon Neftegaz Limited, owned 30% in the Sakhalin-1 project. The Japanese company Sodeco owns a 30% stake in it. Also participating in the project are the Indian ONGC (20%) and “Rosneftthrough Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf and RN-Astra.

In March 2022, ExxonMobil announced plans to withdraw from the project. In August “Rosneft”notified that the “daughter” of the American company, without agreement with other project participants, began a gradual reduction in production from April 26, and from May 15, the activity of the enterprise was almost completely stopped.

In October 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Decree on the establishment of a new Russian operator of the Sakhalin-1 project, to which all rights and obligations of the PSA participants, as well as the current operator of the project, Exxon Neftegaz Limited, will be transferred. Rosneft’s subsidiary, Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf, has become the new managing operator. After that, ExxonMobil stated that it had “safely left” Russia.