Alexei Varlamov met with Ben R. Haynes, President of ExxonMobil Russia Inc., which runs the project implemented under a production-sharing agreement (PSA), who said the license for the project's Chaivo and Odoptu deposits should automatically cover oil reserves if they are found in adjacent areas.
Haynes also said the Lebedinsky deposit planned to be auctioned off for prospecting before the end of the year, was part of Odoptu's geological structure.
Varlamov in turn said the PSA format of the project - introduced in the 1990s to attract investors against the backdrop of low oil prices - and the Russian legislation did not envision an automatic extension of a license and permission from a relevant state body was required to do so.
Last August, the Natural Resources Ministry recommended the government should consider holding an auction for oil reserves if such were prospected near the Chaivo field.
The deputy minister also said hydrocarbon resources outside the Odoptu deposit and reservoir limits were still to be proven.
Apart from the U.S. giant, Sakhalin-1 international consortium comprises Russia's state-owned Rosneft (20%), India's ONGC (20%), and Japan's SODECO (30%), which develop the Arkutun-Dagi, Odoptu, and Chaivo deposits on the island's northeastern shelf.
Their recoverable reserves are estimated at 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 484 billion cu m (17.1 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas.
The deposits are so far yielding 60,000 barrels per day, but output will be increased to 250,000 barrels in January after the commissioning of new onshore facilities and annual output in 2007 would be 11.5-12 million metric tons (about 8.8 million barrels).
Crude supplies to energy-hungry Asia are expected to be launched in October.
