RusEnergy

 09.02.2005 17:09 MSK MosNews - The Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation has issued a report accusing a Royal Dutch/Shell-led consortium which operates Sakhalin-2 oil and gas deposit in Russia's Far East of causing damage to state interests worth up to $2.5 billion. The information was reported on Wednesday, Feb. 9, by Russia's business daily Vedomosti. The Audit Chamber said that investors in the Sakhalin-2 project had overspent $2 billion by selecting expensive vendors of goods and services. This means that Russia will receive less crude oil and natural gas as its share of the profits, the report said. The Royal Dutch/Shell group's spokesman confirmed having received a notification of the report, but declined further comments.