First Sakhalin crude arrives on 2nd December
Oil minister Murli Deora will formally receive Indias first cargo of equity oil from RussiasSakhalin-I field on 2nd December at western Indias Mangalore port on behalf of state-owned ONGC affiliate Mangalore Refinery.
Oil tanker Sokol will be bringing this cargo of 72,000 barrels of crude oil (API 37.9 degrees) to Mangalore. ONGC Videsh has 20% equity stake in Exxon-operated Sakhalin-I, which is now producing about 50,000 b/d.
ONGC chairman RS Sharma, his colleagues on the board, senior oil ministry officials, as well as Karnataka state politicians, will be part of the grand ceremony to mark the unloading of the crude. However, the next three cargoes of ONGCs crude oil entitlement from Sakhalin-I will be sold to Exxon instead of being brought to Mangalore.
This is because crude oil tankers are very scarce in the market, we hear. Exxon is expected to refine this crude in a refinery it owns in eastern Japan and some of the products will come to India.
