RusEnergy

November 1, 2006 - Bloomberg - Shell and its partners in the $22 billion Sakhalin-2 oil and gas venture may seek to agree with Russia on a new accord, clearing the way for Gazprom to take a stake in the project. Shell plans to offer to sign a supplementary deal to the existing production-sharing agreement under which it operates Sakhalin-2, the Audit Chamber said Tuesday on its web site, citing British Ambassador Anthony Brenton. Audit Chamber head Sergei Stepashin discussed Sakhalin-2 with Brenton on Monday, the chamber said. The British Embassy declined to confirm or deny that any such proposals were being considered. An embassy spokesman who declined to be identified said the Audit Chamber statement was inaccurate. He did not say which parts of the statement were misleading. President Vladimir Putin said Oct. 22 that Russia and Shell should settle budget and environmental disputes that threaten to halt work on Sakhalin-2, the nation's largest foreign-owned oil and gas project. Gazprom suspended talks to take a stake in Sakhalin-2 after Shell sought last year to raise the spending plan for the project to $22 billion from $12 billion.