The U.S. company aims to sell 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year to China, spokeswoman Dilyara Sydykova said. The preliminary agreement paves the way for a final sale and purchase agreement to be signed with CNPC.
The agreement concerned each party's liabilities and the pricing principles, Interfax said, citing a Sakhalin-1 source. It said the agreement was the result of a memorandum of understanding signed in November 2004.
Exxon currently supplies from its Sakhalin-1 project 1.7 billion cubic meters annually to consumers in the region of Khabarovsk and plans to raise that figure to 3 billion cubic meters, Sydykova said.
The Exxon-led project includes several Japanese companies such as Itochu and Marubeni as well as India's ONGC Videsh, and Russia's Rosneft. The project's offshore fields hold 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 485 billion cubic meters of gas, the company said, and oil output will rise to 250,000 barrels per day by the beginning of next year.
Separately, Sydykova said the Exxon unit that oversees the project was in talks with Gazprom to secure access to China via the company's pipeline network.
The company "confirms it is in discussions with Gazprom ... regarding potential options for delivering pipeline gas to Northeast China," Sydykova said.
There was no immediate comment from Gazprom on the statement.
Exxon's partners have previously suggested liquefying a part of its exports.
(AP, Reuters)
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