Japanese trader Mitsui & Co has reaffirmed its commitment to the Sakhalin-2 LNG project. Credit: T. Schneider via Shutterstock.

Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co does not plan to withdraw from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 liquified natural gas (LNG) project.

On Wednesday, a senior executive at the company reaffirmed the trader’s commitment to the project, Reuters reported.

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Mitsui holds a 12.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 LNG project, which is among the world’s largest by production. The gas field holds an estimated 1.26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with 15 million tonnes per year produced across its three production trains.

The project is 50% owned by Russian state energy company Gazprom. A further 27.5% is owned by global petrofuels giant Shell, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp holds 10%.

The refusal to withdraw from the project comes in spite of the announcement in May that Russia had delayed the sale of Shell’s stake in the company to another Russian gas company, Novatek.

In November, Shell announced it was divesting from the project, as well as all other joint ventures with Gazprom. At the time, Mitsui & Co said the project could continue without Shell’s presence. Russia had imposed a month-long deadline to complete the sale of the stake that Novatek won in April.

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In it financial statements for the year ending March 2023, Mitsui revealed it had invested $690m (Y97.94bn) in the project and will continue to invest.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Shell is divesting from Sakhalin-2, the Salym petroleum development and the Gydan peninsula exploration project. It also announced that it would cease utilising the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline at the time.

“Our immediate focus is the safety of our people in Ukraine and supporting our people in Russia,” stated Shell CEO Ben van Beurden at the time. He continued: “In discussion with governments around the world, we will also work through the detailed business implications, including the importance of secure energy supplies to Europe and other markets, in compliance with relevant sanctions.”