Court allows Shell to sell its stake in Salym JV with Gazprom Neft

The Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region has upheld a claim by a Gazprom Neft subsidiary asking the court to allow Shell to sell its stake in their joint venture OOO Salym Petroleum Development so that the Russian oil company could buy it out, Report informs referring to Russian media.

The text of the court’s decision has not been published, since the proceedings were held behind closed doors. The applicant, GPN Salym Projects LLC, requested that Shell Salym Development B.V. dispose of its 50% stake in the authorized capital of LLC Salym Petroleum Development and make transactions and actions to alienate the share in favor of another subsidiary of Gazprom Neft - LLC GPN - Middle East Projects.

At the same time, by its decision, the court suspended a number of corporate rights of Shell Salym Development B.V. until the end of 2023 in a new joint venture under Russian jurisdiction. In particular, the court suspended the Dutch company’s right to dispose of its stake in Salym Petroleum Development LLC and demand its redemption.

The subsidiary of Gazprom Neft called the basis for applying to court when Shell committed actions that prevented the functioning of a foreign legal entity on the territory of the Russian Federation, referring to Shell’s February statement on the suspension of activities in Russia. The company announced at the end of February that it would withdraw from joint ventures with Gazprom and Gazprom Neft, including Sakhalin-2, Yenisei and Salym Petroleum, and also cease participation in Nord Stream-2.

Salym Petroleum Development since 2003 has been developing the Salym group of oil fields (includes the West Salym, Upper Salym and Vadelyp fields) in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra. On its basis, the development and testing of oil production technologies is also carried out.