Russia will not accept Exxon's $3.5 billion spending plan for the Sakhalin-1 offshore project in 2010 following the international economic crisis, Sakhalin's governor said on Friday.
"We think that the realistic spending plan for 2010 is $2-2.5 billion," Alexander Khoroshavin said at a news conference.
"We are living at a difficult time...It is unreasonable to invest in projects which will only start repaying in 2014. We believe that we have to overcome the crisis first and then think about investment."
Exxon Neftegas Limited is the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project with 30%, Russia's state-controlled Rosneft holds 20%, India's ONGC 20%, and Japan's Sodeco 30%.
The deposit, operated under a production sharing agreement, holds potential reserves of 307 million tons of oil and 485 billion cubic meters of gas.
Khoroshavin also said that Russian gas giant Gazprom and Exxon had resumed gas price talks that were suspended in February. He said there was no law that would force Exxon to deliver gas under the Sakhalin-1 project to Gazprom.
"But if the project becomes less and less profitable, the government can raise the question of changing the operator," he said.
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, June 25 (RIA Novosti)
