Medvedev stressed that Gazprom will not turn away from the project, adding that despite western anti-Russia sanctions, "there will be no tragic consequences for our business" and no delays are expected in the implementation of Gazprom projects, including in the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye offshore field.
The Yuzhno-Kirinskoye offshore field, located some 20 miles to the northeast of the Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East, was added last month to a US Entity List of sanctioned Russian assets, according to an entry in the US Federal Register.
According to the US government, the field contains significant oil and gas reserves and any US exports and re-exports of drilling technologies to this area would violate the 2014 sanctions applied to Russia over its alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis.
Earlier this month, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Gazprom would continue working on the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field, using the equipment already employed at the site. He said Russia had other foreign suppliers of the necessary equipment and was also working on import substitution.
The Sakhalin-2 project is the first and only LNG plant in Russia. Sakhalin Energy is the operator of the project. Gazprom owns about 50 percent of Sakhalin-2 shares, while Shell owns over 27 percent.
Earlier this month, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said that the joint Sakhalin-2 project is the most effective LNG plant in the world.
