Sakhalin, Russia - Wild West of Oil in the East

Sakhalin, Russia is in the midst of a black gold rush for crude oil, which is a throw back to the old gold rush in the 19th century west.

30 percent of Russian oil and natural gas has been reported to be buried under the territory of Sakhalin, Russia. Projections include 2.7 billion barrels of oil in 11 oil fields, 1.261 trillion square meters of natural gas in 18 natural gas fields and 2.5 billion tons of coal in 52 coal mines as confirmed most recently by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency office in Vladivostok, Russia. The above numbers if true would take care of Korea’s oil need for three years and natural gas for sixty years.

The black oil rush was initiated by Exxon Mobil in 2005 and followed by Royal Dutch Shell and BP, as well as China, India, Japan and Turkey paying frequent visits to Sakhalin.

The Korea National Oil Corporation is also set to deliver annual 1.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Sakhalin back home starting in 2008. It is the first time for Korean natural gas consumers to meet natural gas from Sakhalin.