Pressure on Japan's energy ties in Russia ratchets up with Shell's Sakhalin exit

(S&P Global, Tokyo, 1 March 2022) Pressure is mounting for Japanese companies to review their energy business connections with Russia in the wake of Shell's withdrawal from the Sakhalin 2 project, which accounts for close to 9% of Japan's LNG imports, industry sources said. Shell's Feb. 28 announcement that it was withdrawing from its partnerships with Russian energy giant Gazprom, including the Sakhalin 2 crude oil and LNG project in the Russian Far East, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Jogmec provides an equity financing and loan guarantee to Japan Arctic LNG, a subsidiary of Mitsui, which has a 10% stake in the Arctic LNG 2 project. NEXI provides export credit insurance and export credit guarantees for Japanese companies' energy businesses including LNG in Russia.