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Substantial drilling rig due to arrive at Russia's Sakhalin island on Saturday

A semisubmersible drilling rig called Severnoye Siyaniye (Polar Lights) is due to come to the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin on Saturday to drill a. well at a field struck by U.S. sanctions, the Russian company for. sea and river transportation stated.

The platform remained in the Chinese port of Zhoushan for prepared. maintenance and is because of drill a well at the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye. field, the firm stated.

Washington put the field under sanctions in 2015 for. Moscow's function in the Ukraine crisis.

Market sources and experts have said that gas. from the fields off Sakhalin could be utilized for a pipeline to. China. Moscow and Beijing agreed in early 2022 to boost supplies. of Russian gas through a new pipeline, which would export 10 billion. cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year.

The field, part of the Kirinsky block in the Sea of Okhotsk,. likewise consists of oil.

The sanctions belong to expedition for or production. of oil or gas in Russian deep waters.

The U.S. sanctions avoid foreign business from tapping. hydrocarbons at such fields, and possible gas exports from. Yuzhno-Kirinskoye could indicate that Russia has actually found out how to. get around the sanctions.

Russia now provides gas to China by means of the Power of Siberia. pipeline, which started operations in December 2019 under a. 30-year contract worth more than $400 billion. It is due to. reach full capability of 38 bcm a year in 2025.

According to Gazprom's data, Yuzhno-Kirinskoye's reserves. amount to 711.2 billion cubic metres of gas, 111.5. million tonnes of gas condensate and 4.1 million tonnes of oil. Production of gas is seen there at 21 bcm per year.

The rig was put into operations in 2011. It is capable of. carrying out expedition and production drilling of gas and oil. wells to a depth of up to 7,500 metres at sea depths in the. series of approximately 500 metres.

(source: Reuters)