Russia sees no reason for replacing the operator of Sakhalin-I oil and gas project in the Russian Far East, Deputy Energy Minister Stanislav Svetlitsky said on Sunday. Sakhalin Region governor Alexander Khoroshavin earlier said that the state could raise the issue of replacing the project operator, if the project started to yield lower profits. The project operator is Exxon Neftegaz Limited, a subsidiary of U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil., with a 30% stake, Russia's state-controlled Rosneft holds 20%, India's ONGC 20% and Japan's Sodeco 30%.
The deposit, operated under a production sharing agreement, holds potential reserves of 307 million tons (2.25 billion barrels) of oil and 485 billion cubic meters of gas. Sakhalin is located around 10,000 km (6,200 miles) east of Moscow.
