News Stories - Far East Oil
On the southern end of Sakhalin island, giant bulldozers and earth moving equipment are ripping up the ground. On the site the international energy company, Shell, backed by Japanese partners, is building a huge modern terminal to process and export natural gas to Asia and the Pacific Rim. Sakhalin lies a hundred kilometres north of Japan. The island is about the size of Britain and vast reserves of oil and gas have been found off its shores. The Shell-led consortium has an exclusive production sharing agreement with the Russian government. It's now operating Russia's first offshore oil platform in the sea close to Sakhalin.

Sakhalin was a prison island under the Tsars and fought over by Japan and Russia in the Second World War. Russian and other international oil companies, like Exxon Mobil and BP, are now also developing Sakhalin's resources, spending over twenty billion dollars in the process. So it's now the site of the world's newest oil boom. Gleaming offices and hotels are springing up fast. If the projects are successful, they will help place Russia firmly on the map as one of the world's dominant energy suppliers.
 
- vocabulary:
earth moving equipment: machines used to dig up the ground and remove the earth
backed by: with the financial support of
partners: the partners in a business are the people or firms that own it
to process: if you process something you change it to make suitable for a particular use e.g. gas for domestic use
reserves: a supply of gas that is available for use when it is needed


offshore oil platform: a structure used for drilling for oil at sea

 

 




are springing up: are being built
place Russia firmly on the map: establish the reputation of Russia
dominant energy suppliers: main producers of oil and gas
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