RUSSIAN optimism is growing about a planned restart of production on the Sakhalin 1 oil and gas project in the country's far east after international sanctions forced Moscow to intervene and put a new operator in place last year. Sakhalin 1 was producing at a rate of 250,000 barrels per day in 2021 before then-operator Exxon Neftegas - a regional subsidiary of US supermajor ExxonMobil - declared force majeure in May in response to international sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions included a ban on Western insurance cover being granted to Russian state shipping company Sovcomflot for its fleet of dedicated ice-class tankers capable of reaching the port of De-Kastri, from where almost all of Sakhalin 1's oil production is shipped to international markets. However, Sovcomflot recently carried several Sakhalin 1 oil cargoes to South Korea, according to marine traffic tracking services.
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