Putin takes hard line on Shell Sakhalin dispute

Russia’s dispute with Shell over the future of the Sakhalin-2 project took an ominous twist last night when President Putin demanded government action against companies that break licensing agreements.

Mr Putin, in a televised meeting with Yuri Trutnev, the Natural Resources Minister, said: “I am counting on the Ministry and the Government as a whole making these decisions, including with regard to those companies that work in bad faith and don’t fulfil licensing agreements.”
..officials from Russia’s environmental agency began a month-long inspection of the facility. Oleg Mitvol, the man leading the inquiry, claimed that Shell might have caused damage costing $50 billion. “If we calculate the cost of clean-up works in the Aniva Bay, the figures will look bad for Sakhalin-2,” a news agency quoted Mr Mitvol as saying.

The inspector was joined by experts from WWF International, the conservation group, which repeatedly has given warning that Shell’s offshore platforms were threatening the breeding areas of gray whales and that pipeline river crossings were damaging salmon migration routes.

The Times