MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's environmental watchdog has ordered an inspection on the island of Sakhalin off Russia's Pacific coast in the region of the massive Sakhalin II energy project, the Ministry of Natural Resources said Monday.
According to the World Wildlife Fund Russia, dead crabs and fish appeared September 21-22 on a strip of 10 kilometers (6 miles) along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, where Shell-led Sakhalin Energy is building facilities for Sakhalin II.
A ministry news release cited Minister Yury Trutnev as saying after a meeting with Sergei Sai, head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources, that the second stage of the project would only be checked for compliance with environmental laws and that the inspection would not involve economic issues.
"The issue of revoking the license is not under consideration," the minister said.
The $20-billion Sakhalin-II project comprises an oil field with associated gas, a natural gas field with associated condensate production, a pipeline, a liquefied natural gas plant and an LNG export terminal. The two fields hold reserves totaling 150 million metric tons of oil and 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Environmentalists have consistently raised concerns over Sakhalin II, and the Ministry of Natural Resources annulled its approval of a 2003 environmental study of the project last Monday after prosecutors protested the original endorsement. The move put in jeopardy contracts with Japan, South Korea and the United States on supplies of LNG, due to go into effect in 2008.
The federal agency said the inspection, to be held from September 25 until October 20, would cover forest reserves, water facilities adjacent with a pipeline, and the construction of a terminal in Aniva Bay. Particular attention will be paid to recommendations in the state environmental study of the Piltun-Astokhsky and Lunsky license areas, it said.
Sakhalin Energy comprises Shell Sakhalin Holding (55%), Mitsui Sakhalin Development (25%) and Mitsubishi-controlled Diamond Gas Sakhalin (20%).
