MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI) - The commercial court of the Sakhalin Region dismissed a lawsuit filed by Rosneft against Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. for denial of access to the Sakhalin-II pipeline, the court told RAPSI on Thursday.

Rosneft requested access to the pipeline to reduce spending on the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project which it is implementing jointly with ExxonMobil. Gazprom, which owns 50 percent plus one share in Sakhalin Energy, turned down the request, saying that it planned to expand its own LNG plant within the Sakhalin-II project.

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service in December launched an investigation over denial of access to the pipeline. The antimonopoly regulator asked Sakhalin Energy to provide information about its obligations (by month) under the Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye production sharing agreements in 2012-2014 and projected values until 2018, as well as data on the monthly production and supply of natural gas to the domestic market and for export.

Sakhalin-II is an oil and gas project that includes the Piltun-Astokhskoye oilfield and the Lunskoye natural gas field off Sakhalin Island in the Okhotsk Sea, and associated infrastructure onshore.