ruben.maritime: Shell, Gazprom in Sakhalin agreement

Shell, Gazprom in Sakhalin agreement

MOSCOW 02 January – Gazprom, Russia's largest company and the world's dominant gas exporter, has agreed with Royal Dutch Shell that the latter will invest an additional $3.6Bn of its own cash to bring the Sakhalin-2 LNG project on stream. Neither Shell, nor its operating company for the project, Sakhalin Energy Invest Co (SEIC), is commenting on the announcement, which has been leaked to the Russian press following Gazprom's negotiations with Shell to take the control shareholding in the project. Shell and its Japanese partners, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, are to accept $7.45Bn in compensation for the transfer of part of their shareholdings in SEIC to Gazprom. Gazprom told Fairplay the figure is correct, but added "it is too early to speak about the dates" when payment will be made. This is a hint that Gazprom is looking to apply its newly-acquired share of Sakhalin-2's oilfield revenues to meet part of its bill. A Russian government audit of SEIC's proposed capital expenditure on the project – reported to have reached between $19 and $22Bn, almost double the initial estimates – has also forced Shell and the Japanese into a corner on funding the project's completion.

Etiquetas: international maritime affairs, maritime gas business