Oil Showdown on Sakhalin Island

[CHIMO]

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK -- Foreign oil majors and state officials squared off on Sakhalin Island on Wednesday, with Shell and ExxonMobil insisting that work on the island's prized oil and gas fields was continuing as usual despite increasing state pressure on the multibillion-dollar projects.

President Vladimir Putin also weighed in on the debate, warning in televised remarks that the government would take appropriate measures against any oil firm breaching its license.

His comments came just hours after the opening of the 10th Sakhalin Oil and Gas Conference, where Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sought to assuage fears that threats to halt work at Shell's Sakhalin-2 venture could be part of a wider campaign to give Russian state companies a bigger role in foreign-run oil and gas projects.

"There are no grounds for the opinion that foreign investors are being forced out of the fuel and energy sector," Lavrov said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/09/28/001.html

[Yupster]

1. isn't it about time for Russia to return

this land to Japan.

It's been over 60 years now and Russia has no claim to the land other than by conquest in the last few days of WWII.

[Kagemusha]

2. And why is that not more than enough to them?

Just wondering. And I like Japan, btw.

[acmejack]

3. Part of the reason that Japan is rearming.

They share your opinion. I posted a long piece on this the other day. This feud has been simmering since the Russo-Japanese war, the Japanese still keep a Russian Battleship in Yokosuka as a souvenir of that little affair when they suddenly emerged on the world stage as a modern Naval power.


http://www.midwaysailor.com/mikasa/index.html


http://www.navy.ru/history/hrn10-e.htm

[Xithras]

4. It will never be returned without a war.

There was a chance that it could have been handed back before the oil was found, but nowadays the Russians simply aren't going to give it up. Oil changed the island from a war trophy to a revenue source.

[happyslug]

5. Beside the fact their ruled the WHOLE island before 1905?

And ruled HALF of the Island from 1905-1945?

I believe you are confusing Sakhalin Island with the Kuril Island dispute. Japan, to my knowledge has never made a claim in Shaklin Island since 1945.

For more on the Kuril Island Disputes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute


For more on Sakhalin Island see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakhalin

For more on the Kuril Islands:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril

[SenorSanchez]

6. Oil Markets

My philosophy is that it really doesn't matter which country it goes to because oil is a global market and it really doesn't matter who sucks it out of the ground as long as it gets to the market.

[happyslug]

9. But Japan and Russia do, for then they get the PROFIT from the oil

n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

10. How does Japan benefit from this, exactly?

Considering that earlier this month, Japanese companies were essentially pushed out of an offshore oil and gas development project called "Sakhalin 2"

http://www.business-i.jp/news/sato-page/rasputin/200609280003o.nwc

[happyslug]

11. I was responding to the comment about oil bing a world wide commodity

Since oil is a world-wide commodity, as far as the USERS of the oil is concern, they do NOT care who pumps the oil, on the other hand for the people who PUMP the oil whose oil they are pumping determines who gets the revenue from that oil. Thus this oil is between Japan and Russia and as such both can make a claim for the oil, and whoever is able to control the area to pump the oil will get the revenue from the oil. Right now the Japanese have been pushed out of the area, but that does not mean they were permanently excluded from the area. Remember while the US is #1 when it comes to defense spending, #2 is JAPAN not Russia. This area is adjacent to the northern most of Japan's Home islands and if it contains oil Japan will be interested in the Area.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that while users of oil do not care who controls this oil, Japan and Russia do, for whoever does will get the revenues from the oil pumped from the oil field. Thus these two country may fight over this field for the oil revenue it can produce for either country,

[Art_from_Ark]

12. According to this map, the offshore fields are very close to Sakhalin

but relatively far from Japan, well outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone. Thus, Japan would not be able to make a claim on these fields. The only way Japan could get exploration/drilling rights would be to sign a contract with the Russian government, which Mitsui and Mitsubishi did in 1994.

[Strelnikov_]

7. Countdown To Nationalization

Even at $50/bbl, Russia is flush with cash and can afford to hire who they want to develop their resources. They no longer need foreign investment.

One wonders how long the assets of US companies will be safe in China when either: 1) we default on our loans or 2) a new cold war breaks out over Middle East energy resources.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. The ownership of Sakhalin has a complex history

Prior to 1875, Sakhalin was inhabited by both Japanese and Russians. The Russo-Japanese Friendship Treaty (Nishiro Tsuko Joyaku) of 1855 delineated the Japan-Russia boundary as everything south of, and including, the island of Etorofu (Iterrup) being Japanese; all the islands north of Iterrup/Etorofu (the Kurile Islands, or "Chishima Retto" in Japanese) were officially recognized as being Russian territory. However, due to the nature of the mixed Russian-Japanese inhabitation of Sakhalin, no boundary for that island was established in the treaty.

In 1875, Japan gave up its claim to Sakhalin in the Karafuto (Sakhalin)-Chishima (Kurile) Exchange Treaty. In exchange, Japan received 18 Kurile Islands north of Iterrup (Etorofu). The names of all 18 islands were included in the treaty. The treaty did not include the names of the islands from Iterrup southward, since they were already designated as being Japanese in the 1855 treaty.

In 1905, as a result of Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War, Russia ceded the southern half of Sakhalin, up to the 50th parallel, to Japan.

In 1951 (while Japan was still an occupied country, incidentally), Japan signed the San Francisco Treaty, in which it relinquished its claim to all of Sakhalin, and all of the Kurile Islands north of Iterrup (Etorofu). However, Japan never wittingly relinquished claim to the small islands from Etorofu southward, which had always been recognized as being Japanese, but which were occupied (and continue to be occupied) by Russia after WWII had officially ended.

Today, Japanese atlases show the islands from Etorofu southward as being Japanese islands (even though they are currently occupied by Russia). The islands consist of Etorofu and Kunashiri (which geologically are part of the Kuriles), as well as Shikotan (essentially a large rock) and the Habomai islets (smaller "rocks"), all of which Russia had never claimed prior to its invasion in October 1945.
The southern half of Sakhalin Island, up to the 50th parallel, is shown in white, but is not part of the "Northern Territories" which Japan wants Russia to return.


http://www.pref.hokkaido.jp/soumu/sm-hrtsk/hp/histo.htm