The construction of the PA-B oil platform has been completed by Samsung Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea, Itar-Tass reports.
The platform is designed to extract oil and associated petroleum gas at the Piltun-Astokhskoye offshore oil and gas fields in the Sea of Okhotsk.
In 2005, 13 kilometers northeast off the Sakhalin coast the foundation for oil platform was mounted. The platform itself will be installed in summer 2007.
As soon as PA-B is launched, there will be five oil platforms exploring and developing offshore fields. At present, Molikpak, Orlan, Yastreb platforms are pumping oil from the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk. LUN-A platform is being prepared for the launch.
Experts say the annual output of the five operating platforms will make up 20 million tonnes of oil. Natural gas developed in these offshore fields will produce 9.6 million tonnes of liquefied gas a year.
At present, oil and gas is being shipped to the world markets from the port of De Castri, the Khabarovsk region.