Context: Recently, India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp said oil output from the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia is raise to its plateau level of about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) from zero.

Sakhalin – 1 Project

  • The Sakhalin-1 oil and gas development project is located in the Okhotsk Sea, off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East.
  • It comprises three offshore fields namely Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun-Dagi.
  • All the three fields under the Sakhalin-1 project are located in the Okhotsk Sea, off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island.
  • The total project area is estimated to be approximately 1,140km2.
  • Sakhalin-1 was a technically challenging project to develop due to the harsh arctic climatic conditions in the Northern Sakhalin region.
  • Exxon Neftegas (ENL), a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, which holds a 30% participating interest, operates the Sakhalin-1 project.
  • The other partners of the project are the Japanese consortium Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Company (SODECO, 30%), India’s state-owned ONGC Videsh (20%), and Russian oil company Rosneft (20%).
Sakhalin Oil Field
Sakhalin 1

ONGC Videsh Limited

  • ONGC Videsh Limited is a Miniratna Schedule “A” Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) of the Government of India and is the wholly owned subsidiary and overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).
  • ONGC Videsh Limited comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
  • The primary business of ONGC Videsh is to prospect for oil and gas acreages outside India, including exploration, development and production of oil and gas.
  • ONGC Videsh is the second largest petroleum company of India, next only to its parent ONGC.
  • ONGC Videsh produced about 27.3% of oil and 19.4% of oil and natural gas of India’s domestic production in 2021-22.
  • ONGC Videsh owns Participating Interests in 32 oil and gas assets in 15 countries.