Pipeliners

08/08/2005 (10:47) RZD News - President Vladimir Putin agreed to let Gazprom manage a pipeline that will export gas from an ExxonMobil-led venture exploring offshore fields in the Pacific Ocean. ExxonMobil heads the $12 billion Sakhalin-1 venture, which plans to start pumping crude and gas this year from Sakhalin Island fields in the Far East, reports The Moscow Times referring to Bloomberg. The venture plans to ship its first gas to the continent to clients in Russia's Khabarovsk region, through a pipeline being built by Gazprom and Rosneft. Putin agreed with "Khabarovsk Governor Viktor Ishayev's proposal to transfer the right to manage the pipeline to Gazprom," the president's press service said Friday in a statement.