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condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supposed Western sanctions on Russia. Putin’s decree stipulates that Gazprom will keep its majority stake, but foreign investors must ask the Russian government for a stake in the newly created firm within one month or be dispossessed.
Japan’s Mitsui is also a big stake holder in the Sakhalin-2 LNG project and intends to apply to the government to keep its 12.5% stake in the project. Russia’s Gazprom owned a majority 50% of the project. Mitsubishi and Mitsui also own 10% and 12.5% stakes in the project respectively. Mitsui has not applied to retain its stake but Nikkei reports it intends to do so, the newspaper said, adding that the Russian side will have three days to make a final decision on their participation in the project with the new operator upon the receipt of their notifications.
The third investor Shell said earlier it would sell its 27.5% stake in the joint venture as part of plans to leave Russia altogether but has not yet announced a decision on whether to apply to retain its stake ahead of the deadline that expires at the end of this month. If it does not apply it will be dispossessed.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a resolution on establishing Sakhalin Energy LLC as a new operator of the Sakhalin-2 PSA project operator with registration in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on August 2. Andrey Oleinikov, CEO of Sakhalin Energy subsidiary, a current project operator, will be the new operator’s top executive, Tass reports.
Tokyo Gas and JERA, a joint venture of Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power, have already signed contracts with the new Russia project operator to receive fuel. With Europe importing record amounts of LNG to fill its storage tanks ahead of winter the LNG market is extremely tight that has driven up prices and LNG is in short supply as Europe and Asia compete for the same gas.
Baker Hughes transfers its assets to its local management team,
per a company press release. The new organisation will receive all of the company’s physical equipment in Russia, including its drilling fleet, and will work under a new brand. The units involved in importing equipment, technology, and external engineering support will be wound down.
Output from 220kbd Sakhalin-1 has been reduced almost 100% since May, announced Rosneft in a press release, following ExxonMobil’s decision to begin unilaterally phasing out production from April 26.
Vedomosti reports that ExxonMobil is looking for a partner to transfer operatorship of the project to, but so far none has been found. As a reminder, in 2021 Sakhalin-1 produced around 220kbd, or around 2% of total Russian
146 RUSSIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com