The field in the Sea of Okhotsk holds over 800 million metric tons (5.86 billion bbl) of oil and more than 900 billion cubic meters of gas in estimated reserves.
"Sakhalin-III will be launched this year," said Ivan Malakhov, Sakhalin Region governor.
The state-controlled oil company Rosneft holds a license to develop the Venin block off Sakhalin Island. It holds a 49.8% in the block's operator, Venineft. The region's Sakhalin Oil Company and China's Sinopec each own the remaining 25.1%.
U.S. companies Mobil, Texaco and Exxon won a tender for licenses on the three remaining blocks of the field in 1993 under a production-sharing agreement (PSA), but the Russian government annulled the results of the tender in 2004, citing changes in tax laws on PSAs.
Malakhov also said he expected another project off the Island, Sakhalin-VI, to be launched as soon as possible, which would be significant for the island in terms of employment and a wider use of infrastructure capabilities.
