The government approved the criteria for potential buyers of the share of Sakhalin-2
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The government approved the criteria that a legal entity must meet in order to buy out a share in the project “Sakhalin-2“, should from the decision published on the official portal of legal information.
So, a potential buyer must meet the following criteria:
LNG projectSakhalin-2» is sold on the shelf of Sakhalin Island under a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). It provides for the development of the predominantly oil Piltun-Astokhskoye and the predominant gas Lunskoye fields.
At the end of June 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree “On the application of special economic measures in the fuel and energy complex in connection with the unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organizations.” In accordance with it, all rights and obligations of the former project operator “Sakhalin-2» Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. were transferred to a specially created Sakhalin Energy LLC. The new operator announced the start of work on August 19. The owner of the controlling stake in the Russian company was “Gazprom“. Earlier in the PSA project, Gazprom owned 50% plus 1 share, Shell – 27.5% minus 1 share, Japanese Mitsui and Mitsubishi – 12.5 and 10% respectively. However, it became known that Shell refused to participate in the new operator.
At the end of August, the Japanese financial and industrial group Mitsui received approval from the Russian government to participate in the project “Sakhalin-2“. In addition, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin allowed Mitsui to transfer a 12.5% stake in the new project operator “Sakhalin-2“. Mitsubishi also retained its involvement in the project, but Shell decided get out of it.
Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, explains that Novatek has a Yamal LNG project with a nominal annual capacity of 16.5 million tons of LNG per year, while the project is operating in excess of its design capacity (in 2021, the plant produced 19 .64 million tons of LNG – Vedomosti). “That is, in fact, 40 million tons”Novatek” has already been produced. Novatek has export contracts. Therefore, it may not be in vain that Vladimir Putin mentioned Novatek as a company that earns a lot, ”the expert argues.
Alexander Frolov, deputy director of the National Energy Institute, agrees with him. According to Frolov, Novatek’s participation in the projectSakhalin-2” would be logical from the point of view of “introducing part of the company’s finances into circulation”. Yushkov suggests that Novatek may become a shareholder of Sakhalin-2, and in return it will participate in gas supplies to the Kamchatka Territory.
At the same time, Frolov sees no obstacles for the participation of subsidiaries of foreign companies registered in the Russian Federation in the project. “Of the foreign companies whose Russian subsidiaries could claim this share, one could consider CNPC, which has trained on Russian projects, and CNOOC,” he said. From a strategic point of view, according to Frolov, the participation of Chinese companies is more preferable than the participation of Novatek, as representatives of the LNG sales market and a large shipbuilding country.
Yury Fedyukin, managing partner of Enterprise Legal Solutions, confirms that there are no restrictions for Chinese capital in the text of the resolution. According to him, there are no restrictions for other countries, including unfriendly ones. “This looks quite logical, given that Japanese companies were allowed to enter the capital of Sakhalin-2,” the lawyer notes.
Denis Ilyushenkov contributed to the preparation of the article
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