The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who appeared late in the evening on Thursday, prescribes the operator of the Sakhalin-2 project, Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., transfer its property to the property of the Russian Federation while transferring to the free use of a new legal entity. This legal entity will become the new operator of the Sakhalin-2 project. This is reported by Associated Press.
Currently Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. Almost 50% is controlled by the British energy giant of Shell and Japanese companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi, the agency notes.
The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation as the reason for the transfer of one of the world’s largest export-oriented oil and gas projects to the new owner, “threats are called the national interests of Russia and its economic security.” Up to this point, the Russian Gazprom owned a control package of Sakhalin-2 shares, the first naval gas project in the country, which accounts for about 4% of the global market of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Japan, South Korea and China are the main buyers of oil and LNG exported as part of the project.
The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation gives foreign firms a month to decide whether they want to save the same shares in the new company.
Shell owned 27.5% of the project. After the start of the Russian military operations in Ukraine, Shell announced its decision to abandon all its Russian investments, which, according to the company, amounted to at least $ 5 billion. July 1, Shell said she was studying the decree.
Seiji Kihara, Deputy Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan, said that the government knows about the decree, and it analyzes its consequences. Japanese Mitsui owns 12.5% of the project, mitsubishi – 10%.
Kihara emphasized that the project should not be interrupted, because it “is related to the energy security of Japan”, adding that “everything that damages our rights to resources is unacceptable.”
“Sakhalin-2” includes three sea platforms, a coastal processing complex, 300 km of sea pipelines, 1600 km of coastal pipelines, an oil shipment terminal and a LNG production plant.