Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 36 2022

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Unknown Dubai firm reportedly bids for

Shell's stake in Russian oil project

RUSSIA A little-known Dubai-based logistics company €150mn ($149mn) for Shell’s stake in Salym
called Wellnord is reportedly prepared to buy Petroleum. By any calculation, this is a signifi-
Shell has committed to Shell’s 50% stake in its Salym Petroleum Devel- cant devaluation of its pre-war value. The project
leaving Russia. opment joint venture with Russia’s Gazprom produced 118,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in
Neft, the Moscow-based Kommersant newspa- 2021, which at average oil prices that year would
per reported on September 2. have earned Shell $1.5bn in revenues.
Shell vowed to withdraw from the Russian According to the newspaper, Shell has made
oil industry in the wake of Moscow’s invasion several attempts to sell the stake in Salym Petro-
of Ukraine in late February, but has had difficult leum and there were a number of interested par-
offloading assets, especially since Russian Pres- ties. As an existing partner, Gazprom Neft has
ident Vladimir Putin issued a decree in early a pre-emptive right to buy the interest, but such
August preventing foreign companies from a deal would be prohibited under EU sanctions
divesting shares in what are considered strategic against the Russian company.
enterprises. Meanwhile, Shell is yet to reveal whether it
Comprising several large oilfields in Russia’s will take a stake in a new Russian-backed entity
oil-producing heartland of Khanty-Mansiysk that will operate the Sakhalin-2 LNG plant in
in Western Siberia, Salym Petroleum was first the Russian Far East – the company’s other main
developed with Shell’s involvement in the early asset in the country. Shell had a 27.5% interest in
2000s. Gazprom Neft accused Shell of inter- the previous operating company, and was invited
rupting the project’s operations and has asked by the Russian government to assume the same
a Russian court to freeze the oil major’s share, position at the new one. The other foreign part-
Kommersant reported in August. The joint ven- ners in Sakhalin-2, Japan’s Mitsui and Mitsub-
ture is due to be re-registered to Russian jurisdic- ishi, have both said they will participate in the
tion from the Netherlands, following the court's new operator.
decision. Shell was able to divest its retail fuel and lubri-
Kommersant cited sources on September cants business in Russia to private local producer
2 as saying that Wellnord had filed a bid to pay Lukoil in May, for an undisclosed sum. ™

Week 36 09•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P15