Shell gets $165 mln dividend payment from Russian LNG project

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The logo of Royal Dutch Shell is pictured during a launch event for a hydrogen electrolysis plant at Shell's Rhineland refinery in Wesseling near Cologne, Germany, July 2, 2021. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab received a $165 million dividend payment in April from the giant Russian Sakhalin-2 oil and gas joint venture in which it holds a 27.5% stake, it said on Thursday.
Shell was able to receive the dividend, which relates to the joint venture's 2021 profit, because the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company is a Bermuda-listed entity, a company spokesman said.
Shell wrote off the value of its Russian assets at $3.9 billion, including $1.6 billion for Sakhalin-2, following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February.
It has also made clear it intends to quit Sakhalin-2 and has been in talks with potential buyers.
President Vladimir Putin earlier this month signed a decree that seizes full control of the Sakhalin-2 project in Russia's far east, a major supplier of liquefied natural gas to Asia in which Shell and two Japanese trading companies - Mitsui and Mitsubishi - hold just under 50%. read more
Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said on Thursday it was "highly unlikely" Shell would seek to join a new entity.

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Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Jason Neely and David Holmes

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Ron has covered since 2014 the world’s top oil and gas companies, focusing on their efforts to shift into renewables and low carbon energy and the sector's turmoil during the COVID-19 pandemic and following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He has been named Reporter of the Year in 2014 and 2021 by Reuters. Before Reuters, Ron reported on equity markets in New York in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis after covering conflict and diplomacy in the Middle East for AFP out of Israel.