(Adds details on sanctions, Russian assets)
By Ernest Scheyder
NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. saidon Thursday that expansion projects planned in Russia for thisyear are proceeding normally, even amidst recent sanctionsimposed against the country for its involvement in Ukraine.
Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded energycompany, plans to comply with all sanctions the United Statesand European Union have imposed against Russia, David Rosenthal,the U.S. company's head of investor relations, said on aconference call with investors and analysts.
Those sanctions led Russian President Vladimir Putin to museon Tuesday whether he should reconsider the participation ofWestern companies, including oil and natural gas producers, inRussia's economy.
Yet so far work on projects, including some of the mostcomplex oil exploration endeavors in the world, is "underway andproceeding as planned," Rosenthal said.
The comments came a day after Royal Dutch Shell said it would not pursue new Russian projects in the near futuredue to the Ukrainian situation.
Exxon is the most deeply involved in Russia of the U.S.majors.
With Kremlin-controlled Rosneft, along withJapanese and Indian partners, Exxon is the operator ofSakhalin-1, a massive oil field off Russia's eastern coast andone of three Russian production-sharing deals with foreigncompanies.
Many energy and geopolitical risk analysts don't think Putinwould confiscate the assets of foreign energy companies insideRussia, pointing to the harm caused to the Venezuelan, Argentineand Iranian economies when those countries expropriated oil ornatural gas fields in the past.
"I'd be surprised if controlling half of the Ukraine wasworth more than long-established relationships with Westernenergy companies," said Victoria Brudenell of the SalamancaGroup risk consultancy in London.
Exxon held 85,000 acres in Sakhalin at the end of 2013, alloffshore, and also held about 11.3 million acres in separateRosneft joint venture agreements for fields in the Kara Sea,part of the Arctic Ocean, and the Black Sea.
Rosneft and Exxon also have a joint venture to evaluate thedevelopment of tight-oil reserves in western Siberia, and arebuilding a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Russia's easterncoast.
The plant, which Exxon executives have repeatedly said willnot be deterred by the Ukrainian political situation, isexpected to be online by 2019.
In the United States, Rosneft unit Neftegaz in March 2013bought a 30 percent stake in 20 deepwater exploration blocksheld by Exxon in the Gulf of Mexico. (Additional reporting by Terry Wade in Houston; Editing byMeredith Mazzilli)
