Gazprom transferred stake in Sakhalin-2 to Russian jurisdiction in 2021, received record dividends

MOSCOW. May 4 (Interfax) - Gazprom has transferred ownership of its controlling stake in the Sakhalin-2 project to Russian jurisdiction from the Netherlands.

According to Gazprom Capital LLC, Gazprom Sakhalin Holding LLC, a subsidiary of Gazprom Capital established in 2021, acquired 50% plus one share in Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. from Gazprom Sakhalin Holdings B.V., a Gazprom Capital subsidiary.

The acquisition agreement was concluded in November 2021, and the transfer of ownership rights was registered in December 2021.

"This is an intragroup transaction which had no significant impact on consolidated financial report figures," Gazprom Capital said.

Sakhalin Energy had assets of 957 billion rubles in 2021, revenue of 423 billion rubles compared to 316 billion rubles in 2020, and profit of 148 billion rubles compared to 78 billion rubles the year before.

Gazprom Capital received dividends of 424 billion rubles from Sakhalin Energy in 2021, practically equal to the company's annual revenue. Payments amounted to 56 billion rubles in 2020 and 87 billion rubles in 2019.

Sakhalin-2 is developing the Piltun-Astokhskoye and Lunskoye fields on the Sakhalin shelf. Sakhalin Energy, registered in Bermuda, is the operator of the project. Its shareholders are Gazprom with 50% plus one share, Royal Dutch Shell (SPB: RDS.A) with 27.5% minus one share, Mitsui with 12.5%, and Mitsubishi with 10%.

The Sakhalin-2 LNG plant in Prigorodnoye in southern Sakhalin was commissioned in February 2009 and reached its full design capacity of 9.6 million tonnes per year or 4.8 million tonnes of LNG per line in 2010. An optimization program later allowed capacity to be increased by 20% up to 11.5 million tonnes per year.