| The Russian government will auction the license to develop the Far East Sakhalin-3 oil fields within three months of a new law on mineral reserves coming into effect, the official newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported Friday. Rights to explore the Sakhalin-3 fields were originally granted in 1993 to U.S. oil giants ExxonMobil Inc., Chevron Texaco Inc., and Russian state oil company Rosneft. The consortium had hoped to develop the block under a production-sharing agreement but the license was never issued in the absence of a legal framework for such agreements. Exxonmobil has said that it would view a re-auction of the development license as a violation of its rights. |