The government decided to sell Exxon's stake in Sakhalin-1 to a Russian legal entity

The ministers approved the rules for the assessment and sale of Exxon's stake in Sakhalin-1, according to which only a Russian legal entity can receive it. The American company announced its withdrawal from the project in March last year.

The Russian government has approved the rules for the assessment and sale of the unclaimed share (30%) of the American Exxon Neftegaz Limited (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil) in the authorized capital of the operator of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project. The corresponding decree, a copy of which is available to RBC, was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on September 28.

According to the document, the assessment of Exxon’s share will be carried out by the independent appraiser “B1-Consult”, after which it will be submitted for government approval. The Federal Property Management Agency will ensure the sale of a stake in the authorized capital of Sakhalin-1 LLC. A Russian legal entity that meets the criteria approved by the Russian government can participate in the selection of buyers.

If only one company submits an application or only one legal entity is found to meet the criteria, no selection will take place and that company will be declared the winner at the initial price, that is, the government-approved valuation of Exxon's share in Sakhalin-1).

The Sakhalin-1 project has been implemented under a production sharing agreement since 1996. It includes three fields on Sakhalin (Chayvo, Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi) with potential recoverable reserves of 307 million tons of oil and 485 billion cubic meters. m of gas. At the end of September 2021, at that time, the project operator, Exxon Neftegas Limited, announced that it plans to invest $5 billion in Sakhalin-1 over five years.

ExxonMobil owned 30% of Sakhalin-1. In addition to it, Rosneft participated in the project through its related organizations RN-Astra (8.5%) and Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf (11.5%), as well as the Japanese consortium Sodeco (30%) and the Indian state oil company " ONGK Videsh Ltd. (20%).

In March last year, ExxonMobil announced its withdrawal from the Sakhalin-1 project and the removal of employees from the country. At this point, production at Sakhalin-1 was reduced to 10 thousand barrels. per day, and budget losses since then have reached 20 billion rubles, the State Duma said in October 2022.

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In the same month, Vladimir Putin signed a decree creating a new operator of the Sakhalin-1 project and excluding the American company from it. The new managing operator of Sakhalin-1 was a subsidiary of Rosneft, Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf. All property of the consortium that led the Sakhalin-1 project was transferred to Russian ownership.

The Japanese participants decided to continue participating in both Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2; Moscow approved the retention of shares. Previously, Japanese authorities spoke about the importance of projects for stable oil supplies.