Gazprom, Shell Stress Need for Nord Stream 2

The CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom Alexei Miller met members of Anglo-Dutch major Shell's executive committee in St Petersburg January 19: Harry Brekelmans, Maarten Wetselaar and Ronan Cassidy.

Particular attention was given to the Nord Stream 2 project, Gazprom said: "The parties noted that in light of the declining European gas production, the construction of this gas pipeline was crucial for meeting the growing Russian gas demand in Europe in the future." Shell is a 10% owner of the project.

There has been comment on the cost of the pipeline compared with using capacity in the much larger pipeline through Ukraine. For Gazprom though building a pipeline directly to its major customers in northwest Europe is important strategically. 

The parties also addressed a variety of issues relating to the strategic cooperation between Gazprom and Shell. Touching upon the Sakhalin 2 project, the parties noted that in 2015 LNG production was 10.8mn metric tons, exceeding the design capacity of the LNG plant by 1.2mn mt.