Azernews.Az

MOSCOW – Russia's gas giant Gazprom may invite foreign companies to participate in the Sakhalin-3 project and would favor existing foreign partners, Japan's Nikkei business daily quoted Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev as saying on Tuesday.

"The Sakhalin-2 project was a good example of cooperation between Russia and Japan," Medvedev said, adding that if the project needed foreign companies' support, Gazprom would favor its foreign partners in the Sakhalin-2 project.

Gazprom's partners in the Sakhalin-2 project are Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi and Royal Dutch Shell, which Medvedev mentioned as being on the list of possible partners for Sakhalin-3.

In 2009, Gazprom received licenses to develop three blocks of the Sakhalin-3 project, whose reserves stand at 1.4 trillion cubic meters of gas. Sakhalin-3 gas will be sent to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline, which will pump it to Russia's Far East and Asia-Pacific countries.

Two weeks ago, Gazprom discovered a new field on the Kirinsky block of the project on the shelf of the Sea of Okhotsk. The company plans to develop the field in the next three years.

Gazprom has recently approved an increase in 2010 investment by 13 percent to 905.23 billion rubles ($30 billion) to finance investment in its deposits, including Kirinsky.

Rights to participate in the Sakhalin-3 project may be provided "in exchange for assets," Medvedev told Nikkei.