Exxon Mobil is pushing ahead with efforts to develop its $15bn Far East LNG project with Russia’s Rosneft despite having to exit some joint ventures due to Western sanctions, according to Reuters.

Two months ago Exxon invited companies including China National Petroleum Corporation’s engineering arm to bid for construction contracts by October. A final investment decision is due in 2019.

The project is being jointly developed with Rosneft using gas from the Sakhalin-1 venture which will be chilled into liquid to underpin the LNG plant’s initial annual output target of 6 million mt.

Western sanctions forced Exxon to exit some joint ventures with Rosneft in late February, but LNG is not part of the sanctions.

Exxon-Rosneft have also held discussions about feeding gas from Sakhalin-1 fields into a planned third production unit at an existing LNG plant run by Gazprom on Sakhalin Island.

Exxon’s LNG footprint is expanding rapidly with major new projects planned in Qatar, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and the US as demand in China and Southeast Asia booms.

Gas accounted for 43% of Exxon output last year, according to BMO Capital Markets, a share set to rise as new LNG projects start up.

For more information, visit: www.exxonmobil.com and www.rosneft.com

7th May 2018

7th May 2018