MOSCOW (Kyodo) Gazprom is negotiating for exclusive rights to buy all of the natural gas to be produced by the Sakhalin-1 international oil and natural gas project, according to a senior official of the partially state-owned gas monopoly.
The move suggests the possibility that Russia will take full control of the exporting rights for the natural gas produced by the project, which Exxon Mobil Corp. has led since the mid-1990s and in which Japanese stakeholders, including the government, hold a combined stake of about 30 percent.
An Exxon Mobil subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas Ltd., is the project operator. Japanese stakeholders include the government, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Itochu Corp. and Marubeni Corp.