MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) aims complete the swap of a stake in its Sakhalin-2 project for assets belonging to Russian natural gas giant OAO Gazprom (GSPBEX.RS) by the end of the year, Shell chief executive Jeroen Van der Veer said in an interview with Russian newspaper Vedomosti published Tuesday.
Shell is negotiating to swap 25.1% of the Sakhalin-2 oil and natural gas project on Russia’s Pacific coast for 50% of Gazprom’s Zapolyarnoye gas field, but the deal has been complicated due to rising costs at Sakhalin-2.
Van der Veer said the exact date when the project is to be approved by the Russian government is not yet known.
“We’re talking about very large amounts of money,” Van der Veer said, “but I hope that by the end of 2008 the exchange can be completed.”
The Sakhalin-2 project is already 75% completed, Van der Veer said. Work on developing Zapolyarnoye has not yet begun, he said.
Shell intends to keep control over the project, he said, rebuffing the suggestion that a Russian company might one day take over. Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources has called for giving local companies control over Sakhalin-2 and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)-led Sakhalin-1.
The Sakhalin-2 project is facing estimated costs of $20 billion, double the original $10 billion projection. The Russian government has a say in any budget revision as part of the production-sharing agreement it signed with the project’s partners.
Shell owns 55% of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd., the Sakhalin-2 operator; Japanese companies Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (MITSY) and Mitsubishi Corp. (8058.TO) control 25% and 20% respectively.
-Moscow Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires (+7 495) 974 8055
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
