(Reuters) – The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to halt attacks at sea and against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.
The potential easing of U.S. and EU sanctions in the event of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine has raised the question over what happens to disputed assets that were impacted by international sanctions – both Russian assets in Europe and assets owned by international companies in Russia.
Oil and gas exports are a key revenue source for Moscow. International sanctions were tightened significantly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, with Washington announcing its harshest round of sanctions on January 10.
Western companies have either sold or ceded energy assets to Russian firms and European governments have taken over units of Russian energy firms, while Moscow has taken retaliatory measures against Western companies with units in Russia.
Here is a summary of some of the energy assets and companies affected:
SAKHALIN-1 OIL AND GAS PROJECT
Exxon Mobil Corp held a 30% operator stake in Sakhalin-1, which is a project to develop oil and gas off the coast of Sakhalin Island. Russian company Rosneft, India’s ONGC Videsh and Japan’s SODECO were partners. In 2022, Exxon took a $4.6 billion write-down for exiting the development Sakhalin-1.
In December 2024, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree extending the sale period for the unclaimed Exxon stake in Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project until January 1, 2026.
SAKHALIN-2 OIL AND GAS AND LNG PROJECT
Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom in 2024 acquired a 27.5% stake, formerly owned by Shell, in Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Sakhalin Energy for around $1 billion, according to a government order.
The Russian prosecutor filed a claim against Shell for alleged unpaid gas deliveries in 2022, asking Shell to pay Gazprom 1.5 billion euros and a new court hearing is scheduled for next month.
Gazprom now owns almost 77.5% of the Sakhalin 2 operational company, Sakhalin Energy, located in the southern tip of the Pacific island of Sakhalin. Other shareholders are Japanese companies Mitsui 8031.T (12.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%).
SALYM OIL PROJECT
Shell agreed to cede its half of the Salym project to Russian partner Gazprom Neft in 2023. Shell had already written down the value of its stake with an impairment of $233 million in 2022.
Shell also sold its Russian retail and lubricants business to Lukoil in 2022.
WESTERN COMPANIES IN RUSSIA
UNIPER
The Kremlin took action in April 2023 against Unipro, the Russian division of German utility Uniper, which has five power plants in Russia, by placing it under Moscow’s control.
