Russia is hoping that China would join in the exploration of oil and gas reserves in its far east Sakhalin island, a senior Russian official said.

The official with the Sakhalin provincial government made the remarks in Changchun Saturday at a northeast Asia trade expo. He said that Chinese investors are welcomed to develop the rich oil and gas deposits on the Sakhalin shelf, and they are expected to take part in the exploration and export of offshore oil resources.

By now, Russia's state-owned energy company Rosneft and China's leading oil company Sinopec had set up a joint venture to explore oil and natural gas under the Sakhalin-3 project, he noted.

The project has an estimated oil reserve of 168 million tons and natural gas reserve of 258 billion cubic meters, according to the official.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2006)