Shell to Increase Investments in Russia Despite Sakhalin Misfortune

British-Dutch oil major Shell plans to increase investments in Russia despite losing control of the giant Sakhalin-2 project earlier this year, the company's CEO said yesterday.

Shell was the operator of Sakhalin-2, one of the biggest private oil and gas projects in the world, but was forced to sell to state-run gas giant Gazprom in April after coming under pressure from Russian authorities.

Shell is interested in investing "as much as possible in upstream" in Russia, as well as in "profitable downstream," such as by creating a network of petrol stations in Russian cities, he said.

But the CEO warned that Shell would not be ready to operate as a subcontractor in Russia and said that binding contracts were a key requirement for its investments.