Posted on 08/01/2014 7:14:03 AM PDT by thackney
Shell announced today that it has declared force majeure on its unconventional gas exploration activities in eastern Ukraine, near the site where flight MH17 crashed.
However, it's too early to tell what impact the latest round of EU and US sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine will have on the Anglo-Dutch major, sources said.
Shell has been engaging in shale gas exploration in Ukraine and its Russian assets include a stake in Sakhalin-2, one of the largest LNG projects in the world, where it is working with Gazprom to expand the project.
Shell CEO Ben van Beurden was quoted by Reuters as saying at a news conference, "I think it is relatively close. We were in roughly the same region...The operation that we had on the unconventional exploration programme in that general area is on hold, as a matter of fact it was technically on hold for evaluation purposes."
He also said, "We've also declared force majeure as you can imagine simply because we cannot continue the operations there."
In Shell's Q2-2014 conference call, Van Beurden spoke to the possible impact new EU and US sanctions against Russia could have on the company: "It is easy to think of what has happened and all the events that have followed on from it as a bit of a game changer...But it is a bit early to say how this will all play out. We are not as exposed to Russia as some of our competitors."
Shell's CEO also said of the recently-enacted sanctions that they mostly target the oil industry and seem to be deliberately aimed at avoiding the restriction of natural gas exports.
The new sanctions apply "predominantly [to] oil-related technology...It looks as if it very much tries to avoid hitting gas exports. There may be some implications of course from the financial sanctions," van Beurden said in the conference call.
Correct
Maybe this was one of Pooty Put's goal - take 100% for Gazprom rather than share in it's revenue's?
Shell is not making any changes in Sakhalin. They are one of several major players there.
The sooner Ukraine is stable, the sooner they can get on its way to being energy independent from Russian pressure thanks to fracking their vast gas reserves. They, Poland, and several others with huge shale reserves and the will to use them can become the suppliers of Europe if only The Bear can be locked in his cage for 6 years or so.
They could go fracking on other side of Ukraine.
Ukraine, Poland, GER, the EU got more gas and oil than
all the area from ND to TX, They can get on crash program
and let the barbarions ho starve. Maybe putler and thugs
will end up gutted in the ditches...
Germany probably won’t do it, they’re too hippie-dippie when it comes to energy. But I’d bet good money that, after all this, Eastern Europe is going to jump on board with fracking.
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