An employee of Sakhalin Energy stands at the Sakhalin-2 project's liquefaction gas plant in Prigorodnoye, about 70 km south of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on October 13, 2006. File Picture: REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
The five-page decree, which comes amid Western sanctions on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine, indicates that it is up to the Kremlin to decide whether foreign shareholders are to remain in the consortium. A Mitsubishi spokesperson said the company was discussing with its partners in Sakhalin Energy and the Japanese government on how to respond to Putin’s decree. Mitsui did not offer make any immediate comment.
“Generally speaking, our country’s interests in resources should not be hurt,” he told a regular news conference, declining to say whether Japan was in contact with Moscow over the matter. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told reporters on Wednesday the company was “making good progress” in its plan to exit from the Sakhalin Energy joint venture.