Prosecutor General's office requires Shell to compensate over 1 bln euros in damages - court
MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office is requiring that the structures of UK-Netherlands Shell (SPB: RDS.A) compensate for over 1 billion euros in damages, the court's press service told Interfax.
The size of the requested damages is approximately equal to the 94.8 billion rubles that Gazprom paid in March 2024 for a share in Sakhalin Energy LLC, the successor to Sakhalin Energy which belonged to Shell with a 27.49999998621683% stake. The deal was concluded in accordance with a Russian government order of March 23, 2024, which approved the monopoly as the buyer of the stake in Sakhalin Energy.
As reported, the Moscow Arbitration Court has accepted the claim of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office against a number of structures of Shell. The court has scheduled a preliminary hearing for December 11. If the case is deemed ready following the hearing, then it may be considered on the same day immediately after the preliminary hearing.
The Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court against a number of Shell entities on October 2. The court's press service told Interfax that the lawsuit was filed to recover damages for the non-fulfillment of obligations. Shell has not commented on the lawsuit.
The defendants in the case are Shell Global Solutions International B.V., Shell Exploration and Production Services B.V., Shell NefteGaz Development LLC, Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., Shell Sakhalin Service B.V., Shell Energy Europe Ltd, Shell and Shell Sakhalin Holdings B.V.
The third parties are Gazprom Export LLC, the Russian Energy Ministry, Sakhalin Energy LLC, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd and the Sakhalin regional authorities.
It was later reported that Shell had made the decision to liquidate its remaining legal entities in Russia - Shell NefteGaz Development (V) and Shell NefteGaz Development LLC. The latter is the sole Russian defendant in the lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General's Office. Following the two subsidiaries' closure, Shell's representation in Russia will be limited to a branch of the Dutch Shell Exploration and Prod.Serv.(RF) B.V., which is registered at the same address as the company's subsidiaries and has the same CEO, Tatiana Ivanova.
In 2022, in line with a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd (Bermuda) was replaced by Russia's Sakhalin Energy LLC. At the time, according to the conditions for setting up the LLC, Gazprom Sakhalin Holding was assigned a 50.00000001% share upon its establishment. The foreign co-owners of the project had to confirm their participation in the new legal entity - Japanese Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (12.5%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (10%) confirmed they would remain in the project, while Shell informed the Russian authorities it would not take part as a co-owner with the new Russian operator.
The foreign partners can receive funds for their share only after determining and offsetting compensation for the damages caused by them during the project's implementation, as well as damage caused to Gazprom by refusing to accept a new payment system for Russian pipeline gas supplies to Europe.