Dharmendra Pradhan Visits Sakhalin Oil Field, Processing Facilities in Russia
Union Minister for Petroleum and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan visited the Sakhalin oil field and processing facilities in Russia. Sakhalin oil field is a joint project of India and Russia which was initiated during the tenure of late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Oil & Natural Gas Company’s subsidiary ONGC Videsh Ltd has 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-1 project.
“It was my long-standing desire to visit the Sakhalin oil field. Today, had a day-long visit of Sakhalin field and processing facilities. ONGC Videsh Limited has 20% stakes of Sakhalin-1 since 2001, as a part of Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s vision of developing energy links with Russia,” Dharmendra Pradhan said while sharing pictures of his visit to the Sakhalin oil field on social media.
During his visit, he expressed happiness on spending time and interacting with the engineers who work in temperatures around -40 degree celsius in winter.
“Sakhalin will leave a lasting impression in my mind; Vajpayeeji had the vision for this imp investment; also appreciate crucial role played by then Ambassador to Russia Sh Sati Lamba; present Ambassador Sh Venkatesh Verma was also part of the then Embassy team working on the project,” Pradhan said in a tweet.
Minister Pradhan also visited the Rig “Krechet” which is the biggest and most powerful land rig in the world. It is a covered rig which allows people to work in extreme temperatures (-40° celsius in winter) and drills up to 14 KM in horizontal drilling.
