Exxon's Sakhalin-1 Reaches Preliminary Deal with China Oil Giant

Excerpt from our Wall Street Breakfast, a one-page summary of this morning's key market-moving and stock-moving stories:

Exxon's Sakhalin-1 Signs China Gas Deal [Reuters]

Summary: Interfax reported yesterday that Exxon Mobil reached a preliminary deal with China National Petroleum Corp., to export natural gas from the former's 30% stake in the Russian Sakhalin-1 project. An Exxon representative was quoted saying, "The deal is a logical result of a memorandum of understanding which the companies agreed on in November 2004. It is expected that it will lead to signing an official agreement." Gas exports by the Sakhalin-1 consortium are set to begin in 2008. Exxon has stated that it could export up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas by pipeline over 20 years to China. There has been opposition to the deal from Russia state gas monopoly Gazprom, which has a rival project, and controls the entire gas export market aside from Sakhalin-1.
Related links: Forbes.com AFX and IHT.com AP coverage • Royal Dutch Shell Resolves Environmental Snag at Sakhalin-2 • Natural Gas is Running Out of Steam • Gambling on Natural Gas • Seeking Alpha's Natural Gas Sector
Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: Exxon (XOM), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), ETFs: Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE), Rydex Russell Top 50 (XLG), iShares S&P 100 Index (OEF), iShares NYSE 100 Index (NY), Vanguard Value ETF (VTV), SPDR Oil & Gas Exploration & Production (XOP), WisdomTree LargeCap Dividend (DLN)

Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast summarizes today's key market- and stock-moving news. Receive it by email every weekday morning (free/no spam).

Seeking Alpha is not affiliated with Reuters.