Oil import from Sakhalin-I by Oct

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. plans to import the first two cargoes of crude oil, with capacity of about 700,000 barrels each, from Sakhalin-I project in Russia in Oct-Dec, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dinsha Patel said today.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of ONGC, has 20 per cent stake in the ExxonMobil-operated Sakhalin-I project in far-east Russia. ONGC would auction the crude to Indian refiners.

"The details of infrastructure namely jetties, single buoy mooring, and pipelines available with ONGC at Jawahardweep and offshore to facilitate auctioning of crude by ONGC are being assessed," the minister said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

Sakhalin-I comprises three fields""Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun Dagi""to be brought into production in phases.

The other equity holders in Sakhalin-I are Exxon Neftegas Ltd (30 per cent), Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Ltd. of Japan (30 per cent), SMNG-S (11.5 per cent), and RN Astra (8.5 per cent).

Exxon-N, an affiliate of Exxon Mobil, is the operator of the project. Patel also said ONGC Videsh imported 256,000 tn crude oil from its Sudan property in 2005-06 (Apr-Mar).

OVL has a 25 per cent stake in Greater Nile Oil Project in Sudan. Other stakeholders in the Sudan asset are China National Petroleum Corp. (40 per cent), Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn BHD (30%), and Sudan National Oil Company SUDAPET (5 per cent).

ONGC Videsh shipped 333,000 tn of crude from Sudan to India in 2004-05, and 818,000 tn in 2003-04.

Shares of ONGC today closed at Rs 1211.10 on the National Stock Exchange, down 2.48 per cent over Wednesday.