Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 18 2021

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Around 41% of the Caspian basin’s total crude limited to the Sardar-e Jangal field, which was
oil and gas condensate (19.6bn barrels) reserves, discovered in 2002 at a time when Iran’s total
along with 36% of the gas (3 trillion cubic share of the Caspian gas take was assumed to be
metress), exists in the offshore fields, according around 11 tcm (312 bcm).
to this data. An additional 35% of the oil (16.6bn In 2012, a routine exploration at Sardar-e
barrels) and 45% of gas (3.6 tcm) is estimated to Jangal led to the discovery of an oil layer at a
lie onshore within 160 km of the coast, particu- depth of 728 metres. That layer is estimated to
larly in Russia’s North Caucasus region. hold 2bn barrels of quality crude, of which at
The remaining 12bn barrels of oil and 1.6 least 500mn barrels is thought to be recoverable.
tcm of natural gas are believed to be variously Following the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran had
located further onshore in the large Caspian Sea hoped to license Caspian exploration blocks
basins, mostly in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and under its Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) frame-
Turkmenistan. work and pursue development of Sardar-e Jan-
Iranian efforts in the Caspian have been gal. ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Rosneft to study Far East LNG project

STATE-OWNED Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil cubic metres in recoverable reserves.
producer, is one step closer to making a decision The project has not moved forward quickly,
on the Far East LNG project, which envisions owing to debates between Rosneft and Gaz-
the construction of a natural gas liquefaction prom, another state-owned giant, on the best
plant in De Kastri, the site of the onshore com- options for exporting LNG from Russia. The
plex that is supporting the Sakhalin-1 project. latter company, which is Russia’s largest gas pro-
Rosneft said in its latest annual report, which ducer, had initially lobbied for a different plan
was published last week, that it would conduct that would have seen the Sakhalin-1 group use
a feasibility study on plans for building a sin- an existing facility – Sakhalin LNG, the plant
gle-train LNG plant with a production capacity built to serve the Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 con-
of 6.2mn tonnes per year (tpy) in De Kastri. It sortium – to liquefy its gas. Rosneft, by contrast,
said it intended to call a tender later this year has said it wants to build its own LNG plant.
for engineering, procurement and construction Rosneft is a shareholder in Sakhalin-1, with a
(EPC) services related to Far East LNG. stake of 20%. The remaining equity in the group
The company has been looking into this plan, is divided between Exxon Neftegas, a subsidiary
which would involve using natural gas from the of the US-based super-major ExxonMobil, with
Sakhalin-1 block as feedstock for LNG produc- 30%; SODECO, a consortium formed by Itochu,
tion, for some time. It has indicated that it hopes Japan National Oil Corp. (JNOC), Japan Petro-
to bring the LNG plant on line in 2027 and has leum Exploration Co. (Japex) and Marubeni,
said it may also build additional production with 30%; and ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) of
trains to add another 10mn tpy of capacity by India, with 20%. Exxon Neftegas serves as oper-
2035. Gas for these extra trains would probably ator of the consortium, which holds the licence
come from Veninsky, a block located offshore for the offshore block that includes the Chaivo,
Sakhalin Island that contains around 580bn Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi fields. ™

The Far East LNG plant would be built in De Kastri, the site of the Sakhalin-1 service base (Photo: Exxon Neftegas)

Week 18 05•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13