A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer of Shell, took place today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2016.

The parties discussed the progress of and prospects for strategic cooperation in the LNG sector, paying particular attention to the construction project for the third production train of the LNG plant on Sakhalin Island (Sakhalin II project). Design and FEED documentation are currently being prepared for the new production train.

An emphasis was placed on the issues related to the ongoing Nord Stream 2 project.

Also, Alexey Miller and Ben van Beurden signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Baltic LNG project as a follow-up to the Agreement of Strategic Cooperation. The document reflects the parties' commitment to enhancing collaboration in the LNG sector. The companies will explore the possibilities and prospects for building the Baltic LNG plant with an annual capacity of 10 million tons in the port of Ust-Luga, Leningrad Region.

“We continue to expand our successful cooperation with Shell. An LNG plant oriented toward Asia-Pacific is efficiently operating on Sakhalin Island in eastern Russia. We are working to enhance its capacity.

We will now explore the possibilities for joining our efforts in the promising Baltic LNG project in western Russia. The new project will greatly diversify Gazprom's sales markets and strengthen our LNG portfolio,” said Alexey Miller.

“Shell and Gazprom are convinced that LNG and natural gas in general have great prospects. Over the past year, we made great efforts to advance our strategic cooperation. Today, Shell's primary focus in Russia is the expansion of the Sakhalin II project and the establishment of a world-class LNG center in Russia's Far East. At the same time, we continue to consider new avenues for collaboration in the energy sector,” said Ben van Beurden.

About Gazprom and Shell

Shell is a British-Dutch oil and gas company focused on hydrocarbon production, processing and marketing in over 90 countries worldwide.

An LNG plant was brought into operation as part of the Sakhalin II project. It is the only LNG plant in Russia. The Sakhalin II operator is Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Gazprom – 50 per cent plus one share, Shell – 27.5 per cent minus one share, Mitsui – 12.5 per cent, and Mitsubishi – 10 per cent). In 2015, Gazprom and Shell signed a Memorandum to construct the third production train of the LNG plant, as well as an Agreement of Strategic Cooperation providing for the expansion of the companies' joint project portfolio.

In 2015, Gazprom, BASF/Wintershall, ENGIE, OMV, Shell, and Uniper inked the Shareholders Agreement to construct the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline system with the annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea.

About Gazprom

Gazprom is a global energy company. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.

Gazprom views its mission in reliable, efficient and balanced supply of natural gas, other energy resources and their derivatives to consumers.

Gazprom holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves. The Company’s share in the global and Russian gas reserves makes up 18 and 72 per cent respectively. Gazprom accounts for 14 and 74 per cent of the global and Russian gas output accordingly. At present, the Company actively implements large-scale projects aimed at exploiting gas resources of the Yamal Peninsula, Arctic Shelf, Eastern Siberia and the Far East, as well as hydrocarbons exploration and production projects abroad.

Gazprom is a reliable supplier of gas to Russian and foreign consumers. The Company owns the world’s largest gas transmission network – the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia with the total length of over 168 thousand kilometers. Gazprom sells more than half of overall produced gas to Russian consumers and exports gas to more than 30 countries within and beyond the former Soviet Union.

About Royal Dutch Shell plc

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.