Khristenko has confirmed his ministry’s position on the massive project – they are selling. Sakhalin-3 is now up for auction.
In a statement Khristenko said, “All competitions and auctions in Russia have to be done in strict legal form. There are no grounds for giving ExxonMobil the license on production sharing conditions or usual tax regime for developing Sakhalin-3.”
“This means that the deposit’s development, if it is found expedient, could be done according to a general scheme, that is, on an auction basis,” added the minister, echoing his January statement where he said, “governmental commission for production sharing agreement implementation [has] voided the results of the 1993 Sakhalin-3 competition”.
No comment from ExxonMobil was available at press time.
