Two sources familiar with the operations of the company said that Russia's Sakhalin-2 Project has been suspending its oil production since June due to planned maintenance and repairs on its LNG plant.

Sources claim that the maintenance of the oil infrastructure on Sakhalin-2 began at the end June and will last a few more weeks in July.

Sakhalin-2's LNG plant has been closed for annual maintenance since the 20th of June.

Sakhalin Energy is the operator of the project, but they did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LSEG data show that a tanker Zaliv Vostok recently loaded 80,000 metric tonnes of Sakhalin Blend from Prigorodnoye Terminal on June 23. A tanker Zaliv Aniva also loaded a cargo of the exact same size on July 3. According to one source, the cargoes were probably loaded from storage.

Due to maintenance, it is expected that the usual three 80,000-metric-ton cargoes of Sakhalin Blend will be less than usual in July. Sakhalin Blend is mainly sold to Chinese refiners.

The oil output of Sakhalin-2 is approximately 4 million metric tonnes per year. Sakhalin Island Administration estimates that both Sakhalin-1 oil project and Sakhalin-2 will produce 9.8 millions tons of crude and condensate in this year.

The Russian energy giant Gazprom still controls the remaining company. Mitsui, Mitsubishi and the Japanese companies Mitsui own 22.5% each.