RusEnergy

05 September 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Reserves in Russia's far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka could rival oil and gas-rich Sakhalin, Kamchatka project developer Rosneft claimed today. State-run player Rosneft estimates developing the Kamchatka shelf will cost around $24 billion, company head Sergei Bogdanchikov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Interfax. Rosneft, which has a 60% stake in the project, has so far invested around $90 million there and will inject between $270 million and $300 million next year. "The project's size is equal to Sakhalin 1 or Sakhalin 2, or even surpasses it," Bogdanchikov said in the Kamchatka town of Vilyuchinsk, which he was visiting along with President Vladimir Putin. It is unclear whether the Kamchatka reserves are oil or gas, but Rosneft's partner Korean National Oil Corporation has previously said there could be up to 10.3 billion barrels of oil. "We've already prepared everything to begin work on two exploratory wells, and drilling will start in 2008," Bogdanchikov said. The Exxon Mobil-led Sakhalin 1 has estimated reserves of 307 million tonnes of oil (2.3 billion barrels) and 485 billion cubic metres of gas. Sakhalin 2, controlled by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, has reserves of around 150 million tonnes of oil and 642 Bcm of gas.