Moscow has extended to 2027 a deadline requiring ExxonMobil to sell its 30% operator’s stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project, possibly helping the supermajor to recoup part of the $4.6 billion loss it incurred when sanctions forced it to abandon its flagship Russian asset in 2022.
The extension was published in a presidential decree on 24 December and is the second granted to Exxon in the more than 3 years that have passed since Russian President Vladimir Putin transferred the supermajor’s stake to Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf, a subsidiary of state-owned Rosneft, effectively nationalizing Exxon’s share.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported in September that ExxonMobil and Rosneft have struck a non-binding agreement to help ExxonMobil recoup its losses as a first step towards repairing commercial ties, assuming peace is achieved between Russia and Ukraine, and US and EU sanctions are eased.
Videsh and SODECO Remain
Moscow allowed India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd. and Japan’s SODECO (partners in Sakhalin-1 with ExxonMobil and Rosneft) to keep their stakes within the new structure. In early December, Reuters quoted sources that ONGC would pay into a Sakhalin-1 abandonment fund to retain its 20% share.
Japan’s SODECO consortium has resisted pressure from broader G7 sanctions, citing that Sakhalin-1 is an important source of strategic upstream supply.
Meanwhile, Downstream in India
India’s Economic Times reported that the US has granted concessions allowing India’s Reliance Industries to receive oil cargoes from Rosneft set to arrive in December and January 2026. The deliveries were part of pre-existing transactions that were to have been wound down by 21 November under new US sanctions in October targeting Rosneft and Lukoil.
In late 2024, Reliance Industries signed a 10-year deal with Rosneft to buy up to 500,000 BPD of Russian oil for its 1.4 million BPD Jamnagar refining complex, the world's largest, which exports refined products to Europe, according to the Times of India.
Shipments started in January and Reliance is reported to have loaded its last cargo at Jamnagar’s exports-oriented unit on 12 November. The EU has said that from 21 January, it will no longer buy fuel from refineries that received or processed Russian oil 60 days prior to the bill-of-lading date.
Reliance is reportedly rerouting Russian crude deliveries to a refinery unit that supplies only the Indian domestic market.