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- Refineries are more expensive than money: the construction of a plant on Sakhalin will cost 100 billion rubles
Refineries are more expensive than money: the construction of a plant on Sakhalin will cost 100 billion rubles
The cost of building a refinery on Sakhalin will amount to 100 billion rubles, Izvestia found out. The plant must resolve the issue of shortages and high fuel prices in the Far East. Previously, its capacity will be 3 million tons of gasoline, and construction may begin in 2028. The project will provide the region with high-quality gasoline and reduce the logistical costs of transporting gasoline and diesel to consumers. However, the Ministry of Energy previously noted that it would be difficult to build such a plant without support measures. See the Izvestia article about what Gazprom can expect as the initiator of the project and when affordable fuel will appear on the island.
How much does the island's fuel stability cost?
Investments in the construction of an oil refinery on Sakhalin Island will amount to at least 100 billion rubles. This was stated to Izvestia by the press service of the regional government.
— If an investment decision is made, the planned start date for construction is 2028. According to preliminary data, the design capacity of the refinery will be at least 3 million tons per year, the government of the Sakhalin Region said.
At the end of January 2026, the governor of the region, Valery Limarenko, announced that Sakhalin plans to complete, jointly with Gazprom, the preparation of the first part of the project for a new refinery in the region — the justification of investments in the construction of the facility (OBIN). He announced this after a meeting led by Yuri Trutnev, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation and Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District.
Yuri Stankevich, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, recalled that the issue of building refineries in the Far East is extremely relevant and has been raised several times.
— The reason is on the surface — the installed capacities of the plants in Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur are insufficient to meet the demand for fuel in the macroregion. When difficulties arise with the volume of gasoline and diesel production at factories in Siberia, supplemented, sometimes, by logistical constraints of the railway, the Far Eastern Federal District immediately begins to feverish. We had the opportunity to observe what this translates into in practice in the summer and autumn of last year, when fuel shortages led to an increase in retail prices by 20 rubles per liter," the deputy stressed.
As Izvestia wrote, up to ten options for processing gas condensate at this plant were considered, ranging from 2.989 million to 4.890 million tons per year. At the same time, the consultants who initially worked on the project noted the "poor economics of the project."
Earlier, as a source familiar with the progress of the project told Izvestia, it was assumed that Gazprom would fully finance the construction of the project. According to him, the regional government intended to build a dredged port at its own expense. At the same time, in 2022, with the same plant capacity, investments were estimated at 180 billion rubles. According to the interlocutor, now this estimate should be one and a half times higher.
Izvestia sent a request to Gazprom.
Does the project need government support
According to experts, the cost of the plant will largely depend on its configuration. In the fall of 2025, Anton Rubtsov, Director of the Department of the Oil and Gas Complex of the Ministry of Energy, noted that production based on gas condensate is a more economically acceptable option than building an oil processing plant. The latter will require the construction of additional deep processing plants — catcracking and hydrocracking.
— In today's conditions, when we strive to stabilize prices, a new hydrocracking plant will never pay off. Therefore, the option of using gas condensate makes it possible to obtain kerosene and diesel fuel with a low sulfur content, which meets the standards of the fifth ecological class," he noted.
Nevertheless, as the Ministry of Energy previously reported, "it will be difficult to build such a plant without support measures."
"If an investment decision is made, we are ready to work out specific support measures for this plant and work them out with the Ministry of Finance, to fine—tune tax mechanisms," said Anton Rubtsov.
He recalled the list of mechanisms in the ministry's arsenal: reverse excise duty, dampener, investment agreements that provide significant support for the modernization of plants.
The Ministry of Finance told Izvestia that the relevant proposals had not been received by the department. Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Energy.
According to Yuri Stankevich, the project's support mechanisms at the federal level have already been "tested" many times.
— An effective option by analogy with other projects for the construction and modernization of refineries is the mechanism of an investment supplement to the reverse excise tax on crude oil, which was introduced in Russia in 2020. The plants receive support if there is an agreement with the Ministry of Energy," the deputy said.
According to Valery Andrianov, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, today in Russia there is such a support mechanism as the Regional Investment Project (RIP).
— It assumes a significant reduction in income tax in exchange for investments in production from scratch. Thus, the federal part can be reduced to 0%, and the regional part can be reduced to no more than 10%. On Sakhalin, this level can be set individually. In principle, the refinery project falls under the criteria set for the RIP — the production of specific goods and a significant amount of investment — 50 million rubles over three years or 500 million rubles over five years, — said the expert.
Valery Andrianov did not rule out that the new refinery could be included in the list of "Priority investment Projects of the Sakhalin Region." In this case, a reduced income tax rate will be set for him, which must be credited to the regional budget (13.5% instead of 17% for no more than five years). Also, in his opinion, it is very likely that the Advanced Development Territory (TOP) regime will be used — it provides for a reduction in the income tax rate to 0-5% in the first five years instead of the standard 20%.
When will Sakhalin have its own factory?
Today, there are only two large refineries operating in the Far East — Komsomolsk and Khabarovsk. And, as Izvestia wrote, the idea of creating new capacities is quite natural, since the region is experiencing a shortage of petroleum products — with consumption of about 6 million tons per year, its own production is about 4 million tons. That is, about 2 million tons per year are imported from other regions, mainly from Siberia.
And given the limited capacity of the railways, as well as the high tariffs of Russian Railways, this leads to supply disruptions and higher prices for petroleum products for the population, experts told Izvestia. It was the Khabarovsk Territory that at the end of May 2025 became the record holder in Russia for increasing the cost of gasoline, Izvestia reported.
According to Tamara Safonova, General Director of the Independent Analytical Agency for the Oil and Gas Sector, historically, oil refining in Russia has been concentrated in the European part of the country. The issue of developing refining capacities in the Far East has been relevant for more than 20 years due to the shortage of motor fuel production in the region to meet growing demand.
At the same time, experts note that currently Russia has practically no problems with equipment for the implementation of oil refining projects.
Valery Andrianov added that at the moment, the localization level in the field of refining equipment is estimated at 60-80%.
— There are a number of problematic points, in particular in the field of high-pressure equipment, automation and instrumentation, and catalysts. But import substitution is also developing here," the source stressed.
According to Yuri Stankevich, the technological aspect of the sanctions for the Sakhalin project contains risks, but they can be overcome.
— Most of the required equipment can be manufactured in Russia, the rest can be imported from manufacturers directly or through other countries, — said the deputy.
The duration of the work depends on the scale of the project and the region of construction, but it usually lasts from three to five years, but you should not wait for the minimum time for its implementation, said Ekaterina Kosareva, Managing Partner of VMT Consult.
According to her, the project is necessary not only for Sakhalin, but also for the entire region, and given the complexity of the current economic conditions, coordination on support measures will take time. Nevertheless, there should be no doubt that it will be implemented, the expert concluded.
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