Gazprom buys Shell's assets in Sakhalin-2 for US$1 billion

Stock photo: Getty Images
Stock photo: Getty Images

The Gazprom-controlled Sakhalin Project company has acquired a 27.45% stake in the operator of the Sakhalin-2 project, previously owned by Shell, for about US$1 billion.

Source: Reuters

Details: It is noted that previously the relevant share of Sakhalin Energy belonged to the UK-Dutch company Shell, and Novatek planned to buy it.

However, the Russian government, without explanation, officially cancelled its order from a year ago to sell the stake to Novatek, a competitor of Gazprom.

"The Russian government said late on Monday that the 27.5% stake in Sakhalin Energy is due to be sold to a company called Sakhalin Project for 94.8 billion roubles ($1.02 billion)," Reuters said.

As early as 2022, Shell representatives argued that there was a risk that Russia would nationalise foreign assets, as Russian leader Putin had repeatedly stated that Moscow would retaliate against the US and its allies for freezing Russian assets and other sanctions.

In June 2022, the Sakhalin-2 operator company was transformed into a Russian entity by Putin’s decree.

Shell, as well as Mitsui and Mitsubishi, were then asked to keep their stakes if they wanted to.

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