Sunday Business Post (Ireland): O’Malley concerned by Shell’s Sakhalin-2 project
“Pitted against Shell is an array of international non-government organisations (NGOs), battling on environmental and social issues on the bleak island nine time zones away from Moscow.”: “Does he think the board is likely to reject the Sakhalin-2 project? “I would hope so, if the facts dictate it,” he said.”
Sunday 9 October 2005
By Ann Cahill
For the past eight years, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been mulling over a loan application from a Shell-led conglomerate to develop huge oil and gas reserves in the far east of Russia.
A final decision on a loan package of about $5 billion is expected by Christmas for the contentious Sakhalin Island project. The development is the world’s most expensive – and the single biggest ever considered by the EBRD – so it is not surprising that the bank, of which Ireland is a member, is putting such time and effort into it.