U.S. extends license to provide services for Sakhalin-2, ship its oil to Japan, deal with GPB to Dec 18

MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has extended exemptions from sanctions for Russia's Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project as regards shipping oil to Japan and providing oilfield services, as well as dealings with Gazprombank , including transactions involving Sakhalin Energy LLC, for this project.

The general license providing the exemptions, which is set to expire on June 18, has been extended to December 18, 2026, the OFAC said.

The United States prohibited provision of services to produce oil in Russia, both exports and re-exports of such services, on January 10, 2025, making an exception for Sakhalin-2. Transportation of Russian oil was prohibited as of November 21, 2022.

The Sakhalin-2 project involves the development of the Lunskoye and Piltun-Astokhskoye offshore fields off the coast of Sakhalin Island. The project's liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Prigorodny, southern Sakhalin went into operation in February 2009 and reached full capacity of 9.6 million tonnes of LNG per year in 2010. A subsequent optimization program boosted the plant's capacity by 20% to 11.5 million tonnes.

Project operator Sakhalin Energy LLC is owned by Russia's Gazprom and Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi.