Repsol shops for Sakhalin property

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, July 15 -- The Spanish-Argentine oil company Repsol YPF SA confirmed it is negotiating to buy a "significant" stake in one of the Russian Sakhalin Island oil and gas fields.

Repsol officials would not say which of the Sakhalin fields attracted their interest or how big a stake they may take. However, other sources indicated Repsol is seeking 25% of the Sakhalin III project from OAO Rosneft. Officials of the Russian firm would neither confirm nor deny those reports.

Rosneft holds 74.9% of that project, and the China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) owns the remaining 25.1%.