Project Sakhalin 1 Calls Global Investment: Kasyanov

Mikhail Kasyanov, Russia's Prime Minister, reports his enthusiasm as implementation is starting of project Sakhalin 1, he said to a Moscow news conference which followed a 15th session of the consultative council for overseas investment. Basing in the Russian Far East and requiring more than US$10 billion, the project rests on a production-sharing contact with the AXXON-Neftegas petroleum company. A comprehensive approach to the acting legislation promises fruitful efforts as Russian government policies and investment arrangements become predictable, the Premier hopefully remarked. The federal cabinet will coordinate its moves with domestic and overseas investors on a pattern tested in the Sakhalin project, he reassured. The overseas partner has earmarked $12 billion for the project, which promises Russian federal revenues of 30 or even 40 billion, added an AXXON-Neftegas managerial spokesman. Sakhalin 1 oil-extraction project implementation is largely due to Presidents Vladimir Putin's and George W. Bush's recent summits, Alexander Vershbow, US Ambassador to Russia, said to the conference.