The first shipment of crude oil from the Sakhalin-I oil and gas field in Russia was received by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Saturday at the New Mangalore Port Trust complex here.

The consignment of 92,055 metric tonnes (672,000 barrels) of Sokol crude was ferried on board the Russian ship MK Viktortitov — the oil tanker of Primorsk Shipping Company on a charter of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL). The tanker set sail from Dekastri port in Russia Nov 14. The company will ship second cargo by the month-end.

OVL has 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-1, acquired from two subsidiaries of Russian government oil firm Rosnett — SMNG-S and Rosneft-S.

OVL is now eyeing a stake in the prestigious Sakhalin-3 field in Russia. However, official sources disclosed that as against the earlier practice of securing oil and gas properties in Russia through the negotiations route, OVL will have to go through the bidding route to secure oil and gas properties in Russia.

Officials confirmed that getting a slice of equity in Russian oil and gas properties through the negotiations route seems a tricky situation now. As a result, OVL has already initiated discussions with Russian oil and gas majors--Rosneft and Gazprom for putting in a joint bid for acquiring a stake in Sakhalin-3 project.

The total recoverable oil and gas reserves from Sakhalin-1 are 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 17 tcf of gas. The total investment commitment by the consortia partners of Sakhalin-1 project stands at a whopping $12.8 billion by 2013. Of this, OVL’s share stand at 20 per cent.

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