RusEnergy

02-09-2007 - RBC NEWS - Sakhalin Energy says it has entered into an agreement with Japan’s Osaka Gas to supply 200,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year to Japan. The duration of the contract exceeds twenty years. Sakhalin Energy, operator of Sakhalin-2, says it has already signed contracts for 98 percent of Sakhalin-2’s LNG. LNG supplies will be made from a LNG plant with an annual capacity of 9.6 million, which is being built near the Prigorodnoye village on the coast of Aniva Bay in southern Sakhalin. The construction will be completed soon, and the plant will start operating in 2008. Over 60 percent of Sakhalin-2 LNG will go to nine companies in Japan, and the rest – to the Republic of Korea and to North America. Sakhalin-2 envisages the development of the Lunskoye and Piltun-Astokhskoye fields with total reserves of 600 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 700 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The operator of the project is Sakhalin Energy, in which Shell Sakhalin Holdings B.V. (controlled by Royal Dutch/Shell) has 55 percent, Mitsui Sakhalin Holdings B.V. (founded by Mitsui) has 25 percent, and Diamond Gas Sakhalin B.V. (controlled by Mitsubishi Corporation) has 20 percent. The second stage of the project was announced in May 2003. Along with the construction of offshore platforms in Aniva Bay (southern Sakhalin), the second phase of Sakhalin-2 includes the construction of an oil terminal and a LNG plant with a capacity of 9.6 million tonnes, estimated at $2 billion. In December 2006 Gazprom purchased 50% + 1 share in Sakhalin-2 for $7.45bn.