MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax) - The supervisory board of Sakhalin Energy, the company operating the Sakhalin-2 project, held its first session with the participation of Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) and agreed a major natural gas sales contract, the Industry and Energy Ministry said in a statement.

"Thus, it is possible to say that practically the entire volume of gas (9.55 million tonnes a year) produced under the two lines of the production-sharing agreement is now under contract," it said.

The board also confirmed FinExpertiza as its independent auditor to audit the company's financials for 2006-2008. The auditor was selected in a tender.

FinExpertiza replaces PricewaterhouseCoopers, which had provided auditing services to Sakhalin Energy for the past 10 years.

Gazprom recently acquired 50% plus one share in Sakhalin Energy for $7.45 billion. The foreign partners in the project saw their stakes halved in the transaction: to 27.5% from 55% for British-Dutch Shell, to 12.5% from 25% for Japan's Mitsui, and to 10% from 20% for Mitsubishi. Gazprom received the extra one share from Shell. Sakhalin Energy remains the project operator.