Offshore staff

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSKI, Russia -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today opened Russia's first LNG plant built by Sakhalin Energy. The LNG plant is the heart of the Sakhalin II project, one of the largest integrated oil and gas projects in the world.

Sakhalin II construction is near completion -- the infrastructure includes three offshore platforms, an onshore processing facility, 300 km (186 mi) of offshore pipelines, 1,600 km (994 mi) of onshore pipelines, an oil export facility, and the LNG plant.

Nearly all of the 9.6-million-metric ton (10.6-million-ton) annual production capacity of the LNG plant has already been committed in long-term contracts to supply customers in Japan, Korea, and North America. Sakhalin LNG will be the first Russian gas supplied to these regions.

"Sakhalin has now firmly established its position on the global energy map," says Ian Craig, Sakhalin Energy's CEO. "When the Sakhalin II project is fully on stream, it will supply around 5% of the world's LNG and make a significant contribution to strengthening global energy security."

02/18/2009