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Oil giant British Petroleum intends to shut down its representative office in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk at the end of April, the head of BP Sakhalin's office Ray Yakubchak announced at a meeting with the speaker of the Sakhalin Duma, Vladimir Yefremov, on Tuesday.

“It is a sad event,” said Yakubchak referring to the office’s shut down, a statement from the Sakhalin Duma cited him as saying. Yakubchak reported that BP plans to reduce its drilling operations in Sakhalin but it will continue geological research through Elvari NefteGaz, a joint venture with Russia's largest oil company Rosneft. Rosneft possesses 51 percent of Elvari and BP holds the remainder.

Elvari has drilled six exploration wells at the project site including two last year. Experts say the results of the drilling season may be unsatisfactory leading to the current reorganization activities of BP in Sakhalin.

Yefremov expressed hope that British Petroleum was not disappointed in the team working with Russian partners and praised the company’s professional work in Sakhalin. He wished BP positive results in the drilling season.