A Russian offshore gas and condensate field in the Sea of Okhotsk has been added to a US-sanctions list prompted by Russia's actions in Ukraine.
The Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field, 35km northeast of Sakhalin Island and 6km southeast of the Kirinskoye field, was discovered in 2010 and is the subject of preparations for development by operator Gazprom.
The nearby Kirinskoye field, which came on stream in late 2013, was Russia's first subsea production facility, with seven wells from a single manifold tied back via a 139km-long gas pipeline to the main compressor station of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas transmission system.
The US said the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field was being added to the Federal Register's Entity List because it is reported to contain substantial reserves of oil. Adding the field to the list means a license will be required for exports, re-exports or transfers of oil from that location, it said.
Current sanctions prohibit certain items to be exported to Russia when they are directly or indirectly to be used in the exploration for or production of oi land gas in Russian deepwater (greater than 500ft/152m).
Like Kirinskoye, the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye and Mynginskoye gas and condensate fields are also due to be subsea tie-backs to the same onshore processing facility. Water depth at Yuzhno-Kirinskoye is 110-320m, according to Gazprom. Gazprom says, on its website, it plans to commission the field in 2018, as part of its Sakhalin III project, which covers the Kirinsky block, containing Yuzhno-Kirinskoye, and the Ayashsky and Vostochno-Odoptinsky blocks.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said the decision further damaged US-Russia bilateral relations, reported Reuters.
Image: Kirinskoye, Russia's first subsea gas production, came onstream in 2014. Image from Gazprom.
Read more
Subscribe
