ExxonMobil Corp is to invest 750 mln usd this year to develop the Sakhalin-I oil and gas field located north of Japan. The money would be used to install drilling equipment on the Chaivo oilfield as well as upgrading the sea platform Orlan. The three offshore fields in the Sakhalin-I project, Chaivo, Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi, are estimated to contain 307 mln tonnes of oil and 485 mln cubic metres of gas. They are to be operated by an international consortium in which ExxonMobil and Japan’s Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development (SODECO) each hold a 30 pct stake. The other investors are India’s ONGC Videsh and two subsidiaries of Russia’s Rosneft.
The consortium has already invested 450 mln usd in a five-year prospection drilling programme, and the overall investment in the project is expected to be of the order of 12 bln usd over a period of 30 to 40 years.
