India Has Not Received an Offer to Buy Exxon’s Stake in Sakhalin-1
ExxonMobil announced in March 2022 its withdrawal from the project and departure from Russia
India has not received an offer to buy Exxon’s stake in the new operator of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project. Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India Pankaj Jain told reporters about this on the sidelines of the ADIPEC oil and gas exhibition.
“We have not received such an offer,” he said.
The representative of the ministry recalled that India is represented in several oil projects in Russia, including that the Indian company already has a stake in Sakhalin-1.
About the situation with the project
At the end of September, the Russian government approved the rules for the assessment and sale of Exxon’s stake in the new operator of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project, according to which only a Russian legal entity that meets certain criteria can receive it.
In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the deadline for the sale of Exxon’s share in the Sakhalin-1 project until the fall of 2023: previously it was assumed that the government would conduct an assessment and sale within 4 months from the decision to refuse to transfer the share. By decree of April 5, this period was extended to 12 months, that is, until mid-November of this year.
In the fall of 2022, Russia transferred the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project to Russian jurisdiction – instead of Exxon Neftegaz, it became Sakhalin-1 LLC, registered in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf became the operator’s management company.
The new project operator, Sakhalin-1 LLC, was registered on October 14, 2022. The Russian government allowed the transfer of 20% of the share of the new operator Sakhalin-1 to the Indian ONGC Videsh Limited, and 30% to the Japanese Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd. (Sodeco), who announced their intention to remain in the project. 8.5% in the project belongs to RN-ASTRA”, 11.5% to Sakhalinmorneftegazshelf. The share of Exxon Neftegas (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil) is 30%, but ExxonMobil announced in March 2022 its withdrawal from the Sakhalin-1 project and leaving Russia.
