The government approved the sale of Shell’s stake in Sakhalin-2 to Novatek

The Russian government has approved the sale of 27.5% owned by Shell in the project “Sakhalin-2“, gas producing company”Novatek» Leonid Mikhelson for 94.8 billion rubles. About it informed TASS with reference to the order of the government.

After creating a new operator for the Sakhalin-2 PSA project, Shell decided to withdraw from it, and announced this on 1 September. In December 2022 the government appreciated the share of the British oil and gas company in 94.8 billion rubles.

In early March, Kommersant, citing sources informedthat Novatek is ready to buy out Shell’s share (27.5%) in the Sakhalin-2 project. On April 3, a representative of Novatek said in a conversation with Interfax that the company filed an application for participation in the selection for the purchase of a share in the PSA project. The next day, Kommersant, citing sources, reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved Michelson’s offer to transfer money for Shell’s share to the company’s foreign accounts.

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 operator of the Sakhalin-2 project, 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 controlling stake in the Russian company was received by “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. Japanese companies have expressed their desire to retain stakes in the project.