In a statement OVL MD R.S. Butola said, “Reserves from the Sakhalin-1 block have been revised up to 17 trillion cubic feet of gas and 2.23 billion barrels of oil [and] the company is increasing its investment due to [this] revised project estimates. Increasing the investment to US$2.74 billion would be worth it given the higher gas and oil reserve estimates.”
“Gas production is expected to commence by the middle or third quarter of 2005, with oil production expected by the end of 2005 or early 2006 [and], at this stage, gas from Sakhalin is expected to be used for domestic consumption, with plans to later export to Japan, China and South Korea.
“ONGC has access to its percentage of the oil reserves, although [we have] yet to decide if [we] will transport the oil to India or sell it back to the consortium partners,” added Butola.
