Another US shot against Russian oil
Washington introduces sanctions against Gazprom’s Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field, one of the biggest hydrocarbon projects on the Russian shelf. That could have consequences also for Statoil’s cooperation with Rosneft in a nearby license.
The new sanctions include deliveries of a wide range of equipment and expertise for the project, and will significantly complicate operator Gazprom’s field development, newspaper Vedomosti reports.
The Yuzhno-Kirinskoye holds an estimated 636 billion cubic meters of gas, as well as 97 million tons of gas condensate, Gazprom informs on its website. It is planned to become the key source of gas for the Sakhalin-3 project, the grand initiative which includes the construction of the Vladivostok LNG plant.
Yuzhno-Kirinskoye is located in the Sea of Okhotsk, off the coast of Sakhalin. Field project production is originally planned for year 2018.
The expansion of U.S sanctions could ultimately hit also Norwegian company Statoil, which together with Rosneft is planning exploration drilling in a neighboring Okhotsk Sea license.
The additional sanctions come as a reaction to what the USA sees as Russia’s continued comprehensive involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In September 2014, U.S. authorities adopted its previous round of sanctions against the Russian oil and gas industry, directed first of all against the country’s deepwater, Arctic offshore, or shale projects. In addition, the Russian companies hit have been deprived their possibilities to get credits from US and EU financial institutions.
