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India expects 50,000-100,000 barrels per day oil from Sakhalin-1

India will get 2.5-5.0 million tonnes a year (50,000 to 100,000 barrels per day) of crude oil from the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia, in which exploration firm, ONGC Videsh, has a 20 per cent stake, a government statement said on Friday.

ONGC Videsh, the foreign investment subsidiary of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp had earlier estimated it would get about 2.5 million tonnes of equity oil a year from the project.

The firm is spending $1.75 billion in the project -- the largest overseas investment by an Indian company. The Sakhalin-1 project is expected to start production in 2005.

The statement quoted Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik as saying that the crude production estimates of the project had gone up by 25-30 per cent since the time the deal was negotiated.

"With this increase in the production profile, the attractiveness of the project has gone up further," it said.

Exxon Mobil Corp and Japan's Sodeco have a 30 per cent stake in the project, while Russia's national oil company, Rosneft, and ONGC Videsh hold 20 per cent.

India, which imports more than two-thirds of its crude oil needs, has been seeking oil from abroad to make up for declining domestic production.

ONGC produces about 25 million tonnes of crude oil a year, mostly from its Bombay High fields, whose output is declining. India's domestic crude output has declined to about 30 million tonnes a year (600,000 barrels per day) from 34 million tonnes six years ago.

ONGC Videsh also has a 45-per cent share in a gas field in Vietnam with estimated reserves of 2.04 trillion cubic feet (57.76 billion cu metres). Commercial production from the field is expected to start next year.

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