Russia's Sakhalin governor says Exxon's return would be beneficial

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) -The governor of Russia's far eastern Sakhalin region told Reuters on Thursday that a potential return of U.S. energy major Exxon Mobil would be a boost for the local oil and gas business.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed last month a decree that could allow foreign investors, including top U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil to regain shares in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project.

The signing of the decree came on the day Russian president Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump in Alaska for a summit where opportunities for investment and business collaboration were on the agenda, alongside talks to find peace in Ukraine.

The decree was published as a follow-up to one Putin signed in October 2022, which ordered the seizure of the Sakhalin-1 project.

Exxon previously held a 30% operator share in the lucrative project, and is the only non-Russian investor to have quit its stake.

Valery Limarenko, the Sakhalin governor, said Russia has its own technologies to produce oil and gas, including offshore, but Exxon's return would be helpful.

"We need to develop further and in this sense, it would be more efficient to develop further jointly," he said.

"Look, it's important that they want to return," he added.

Exxon took an impairment charge of $4.6 billion to exit its Russian business after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

In December 2024, Putin signed a decree extending the sale period for the unclaimed Exxon stake in Sakhalin-1 until 2026.

Alongside Exxon, Russian company Rosneft, India's ONGC Videsh, Japan's SODECO were partner investors.

The Russian government allowed both ONGC Videsh and SODECO to keep their stakes.

(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)