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Russia seeks to recover $219.7 mln from Exxon on Sakhalin 1 project

The court scheduled the next hearing for February 28 at 2:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. Moscow time)

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, January 31. /TASS/. Russia’s Prosecutor General's Office has asked to recover about 15.5 billion rubles ($219.7 mln) of tax debt and penalties against Exxon Neftegas Limited, the former operator of the Sakhalin1 oil production project, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, a TASS correspondent reported.

The lawsuit was considered by the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court on Tuesday.

"I have information from the Federal Tax Service that as of January 30, the total debt [of the company] has changed due to the revised debt requirements. Please accept these clarifications along with the documents to notify the parties," a representative of the Prosecutor's Office said, stating his petition in court.

The total amount of the penalty was not announced at the meeting. As the participants in the hearings told TASS, it amounted to 15,479,095,200 rubles, including penalties.

The court scheduled the next hearing for February 28 at 2:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. Moscow time).

The lawsuit was filed on September 26, 2022, when the company was still the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project. The substance of the claim was not revealed.

The government of the Sakhalin Region and the regional department of the Federal Tax Service act as third parties in the case. The first hearing was held in late November 2022 in the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court.

Earlier, the Russian authorities transferred the operator of the Sakhalin-1 project to Russian jurisdiction. LLC Sakhalin-1, registered in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, took over for Exxon Neftegaz as the project’s operator. Sakhalinmorneftegaz-shelf, a subsidiary of Rosneft, became the operating company of LLC Sakhalin-1.

The Russian government allowed the transfer of 20% of the new operator Sakhalin-1 to the Indian ONGC Videsh Limited, and 30% to the Japanese Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd. (Sodeco). Rosneft holds 20% in the project. The stake of Exxon Neftegas (subsidiary of ExxonMobil) was 30%, but it announced its withdrawal from the project.