Sakhalin Energy

History

The original consortium was formed in 1991 by Marathon, McDermott, Mitsui and Russian Federation as MMM Consortium. Shell and Mitsubishi joined the consortium in 1992, to make it MMMMS. In April 1994, the consortium formed Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. incorporated in Bermuda to develop and manage the Sakhalin II project. Sakhalin Energy signed a production sharing agreement with the Russian Federation in 2004.

McDermott sold its share to the other partners in 1997 and Marathon traded its share to Shell for other properties (the BP operated Foinaven field, near the Shetland Islands, and an eight block area in the Gulf of Mexico—including the Ursa field) in 2000.

In 2007, Shell was forced by the Russian government to sell part of its stake to Gazprom which made Gazprom the largest shareholder with 50% share of the company. The consortium then developed into its current form, consisting of Russia's Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, and Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi.

In November 2009, Sakhalin Energy joined the United Nations Global Compact.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Shell said that it would exit Sakhalin-2 and other ventures in Russia. On 30 June 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the transfer of the Sakhalin-2 project to a new domestic operator. Foreign investors will be required to apply to retain their existing shares in the new Russian company within a month. The Russian government will then decide whether to allow foreign shareholders to keep their stake. If they are rejected, the government will sell the foreign shareholder’s stake and keep the proceeds in the shareholder’s special account.