THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 7 OCTOBER 2026
SLF-2007-080
The Sakhalin Papers LXX: The Third Train — Shell Pushes to Expand the Project It No Longer Controlled
Seven years after Shell surrendered control of Sakhalin II to Gazprom, it was pressing its new majority partner to make the project larger. In September 2013 Shell warned that delay could squander favourable Asian LNG prices. The difficulty was not the existing plant: Sakhalin II was already producing above its original design capacity. The problem was finding enough additional gas. Shell pointed toward Gazprom’s neighbouring Sakhalin III resources. In December, Peter Voser and incoming chief executive Ben van Beurden agreed with Gazprom to advance engineering work. On 23 February 2014, van Beurden and Alexey Miller signed the roadmap in Sochi. Shell no longer controlled Sakhalin II. But it plainly still regarded the project as something worth expanding.
Archive reference: SLF-2007-080; Collection: The Sakhalin Papers; Principal authenticated records: Royal Dutch Shell plc Annual Report and Form 20-F 2014; Gazprom corporate records dated 23 October and 23 December 2013 and 23 February 2014; Contemporaneous reporting: Reuters, 30 September 2013; Later corroborating record: Gazprom’s subsequent account of the proposed third train and its intended Sakhalin III feed gas; Evidence standard: preparation of FEED documentation is distinguished throughout from a final investment decision or authorisation to construct the third train. No court or arbitral ruling identified for this instalment adjudicated the commercial merits of the expansion proposal.
