MosNews (Russia): EBRD Delays Loan to Sakhalin-2 Oil Project Due to Environmental Concerns
21 June 2005
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has delayed the approval of a key loan to Royal Dutch/Shell’s Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East. The reason for the delay is the environmental concerns raised by various groups inside and outside of Russia.
“It’s going slower than expected and we have identified some problems. We’ve raised them with Sakhalin Energy [company which operates the project] and we’re discussing the solutions,” an EBRD spokeswoman, quoted by Reuters, said on Monday, June 20. “We were anticipating going into public consultation on it [the loan] in early summer if all the boxes had been ticked but the timing for that has slipped and we can’t say when we expect when to go to the next phase,” the spokeswoman added.