India’s state-run ONGC Videsh Ltd. has decided to retain its 20 percent stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East, the Press Trust of India newspaper reported on Tuesday.
"We want to retain the shareholding and will do all that the local law requires us to do," the PTI reported, citing a source.
India's ONGC Videsh Ltd. will have to apply within a month to retain stakes of similar size in the yet-to-be formally announced new operator of Sakhalin-1. The firm earned over $3.7 billion with a 20% investment of $337 million two decades ago.
The fresh bid to retain its stake in the project was initiated following Russia's decision to disband Exxon Neftegaz - a regional subsidiary of US supermajor ExxonMobil - as operator of Sakhalin-1. Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to transfer the entire stake of ExxonMobil and all of its assets and equipment to a new operator.
ExxonMobil was operating the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of an international consortium of Japanese, Indian, and Russian companies. In April, the Texas-based firm pulled out of the project in response to Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine.
The other former foreign shareholders – Japan's Sodeco consortium and ONGC Videsh – were required to apply to the Russian government to regain their shareholdings in the project.
Indian public sector units ONGC Videsh Ltd., Indian Oil Ltd., Bharat Petro Resources Ltd., and Oil India Ltd. have invested over $16 billion in oil and gas fields such as Sakhalin-1, Imperial Energy, Vankorneft, TaasYuryakh, and License-61 since the early 2000s.
Indian officials expect that production will restart before the upcoming winter.