Russia seizes control of Sakhalin gas project, raises stakes with West

RUSSIA,UKRAINE: Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the stakes in an economic war with the West and its allies with a decree that seizes full control of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project in Russia’s far east, a move that could force out Shell and Japanese investors.

The order, signed on Thursday, creates a new firm to take over all rights and obligations of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co, in which Shell and two Japanese trading companies, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, hold just under 50 per cent.

The five-page decree, which follows Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, indicates the Kremlin will now decide whether the foreign partners can stay.

State-run Gazprom already has a 50 per cent plus one share stake in Sakhalin-2, which accounts for about 4 per cent of the world’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production.

Meanwhile, Russian missile attacks on residential areas killed at least 19 people, including a child, in a Ukrainian town near Odesa early Friday, authorities reported. The airstrikes pierced the cautious relief expressed a day earlier after Russian forces withdrew from a Black Sea island from where they could have staged an assault on the city with Ukraine’s biggest port.

Video of the pre-dawn attack showed the charred remains of buildings in the small town of Serhiivka, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Odesa. The Ukrainian President’s office said three Kh-22 missiles fired by Russian bombers struck an apartment building and a campsite. – INDIA TODAY