The Russian government has instructed the Subsoil Use Agency to hold a tender in 2011 for a hydrocarbon deposit in the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia's Pacific Island of Sakhalin, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.
The deposit, which skirts the northern side of the Chaivo oil and gas deposit being developed under the Sakhalin-1 project, has estimated reserves of over 16 million metric tons of oil under Category C1 and C2. The deposit's gas reserves are estimated at 2.511 billion cubic meters under Category C1 and 7.423 billion cubic meters under Category C2.
The Sakhalin-1 project includes the Chaivo, Odoptu and Arkutun-Dagi deposits, whose reserves are estimated at about 307 million tons of oil (2.3 billion barrels) and 485 billion cubic meters of gas (17 trillion cubic feet).
The projects participants are Exxon Neftegas and Japan's Sodeco with 30% each, while Russia's Rosneft and India's ONGC have 20% each.