Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom has bought a 27.5% stake in LNG producer Sakhalin Energy, previously held by Shell, for 94.8bn roubles ($1.02bn).
The ex-Shell stake in Sakhalin Energy will be sold to a company named Sakhalin Project, fully owned by Gazprom.
Before this acquisition, Gazprom owned 50% of Sakhalin Energy while the two other partners were Japanese companies Mitsui with a 12.5% stake while Mitsubishi held the remaining 10%. With this buy, Gazprom will control 77.5% of the company.
In 2022, Sakhalin Energy accounted for almost 3% of global LNG demand. It ships the chilled fuel mainly to Japan, South Korea, China, India, and other Asian countries. Last year, it produced more than 10m metric tons of LNG, down from 11.5 million tons in 2022.
The development consists of three fixed offshore production platforms, offshore and onshore pipelines, an onshore processing facility, an LNG plant, and an oil export terminal with a tanker loading unit. The Sakhalin-2 oil and LNG export terminals commenced operations in December 2008 and February 2009, respectively.
Several companies left the Sakhalin projects after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. Shell quit the Sakhalin-2 project while supermajor ExxonMobil left the sister Sakhalin-1 project. Shell booked a $1.6bn after getting rid of its stake. Other companies that left different projects in Russia were BP, Equinor, and TotalEnergies among others.
The Sakhalin-2 operating company became a Russian entity via a presidential decree later in 2022. Shell, Mitsui, and Mitsubishi were asked to apply to keep their stakes but Shell opted out. Russia then invited companies to obtain its stake as well as ExxonMobil’s abandoned share in Sakahlin-1.
Russian energy company Novatek was supposed to take over Shell’s stake but the order for the sale was inexplicably nullified by the government.
