Industrial production of oil and gas starts on Sakhalin 1 project

Industrial production of oil and natural gas started Sunday on the Sakhalin 1 project, the Exxon Neftegas Limited press service said.

The press service said oil production from the Chaivo deposit in the northeast of Sakhalin island in the Russian Far East would reach 50,000 barrels or 6,300 metric tons per day by the year's end.By the end of 2006, this rate will grow fivefold to reach 250,000 barrels or 33,000 metric tons.

Natural gas sales on the domestic Russian market will be 1,700,000 cubic meters a day at the first stage, to reach 7,100,000 cubic meters a day by 2010, the press service said.

It added that gas would probably be delivered to Asian countries via a pipeline in the future, and oil would be sold abroad after an oil-loading terminal was built in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, RIA Novosti reports.