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sakhalin resources

• UK royal visits project linked to death of whales
• Project Background
• Sakhalin's endangered whales get small reprieve
• Shell outrages sakhalin's fishermen
• EBRD's Credibility Gap
• About Sakhalin Island

SAKHALIN'S ENDANGERED WHALES GET SMALL REPRIEVE

Following intense pressure from an international coalition of environmental groups Shell-led Sakhalin Energy is to postpone the construction of undersea pipelines in the Sakhalin II oil and gas project. Until now Sakhalin Energy has planned to lay the pipelines directly through the primary feeding habitat of Western Grey Whales, the world's most critically endangered population of grey whale.

The consortium consists of Shell, Mitsui, Mitsubishi and potential international lenders to the Sakhalin II project, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 

Campaigners insist that much more remains to be done before the Sakhalin II project, the largest ever oil and gas project, can progress safely. Sakhalin Energy still plans to build offshore platforms adjacent to the grey whale habitat. This is just one of the controversies surrounding the Sakhalin II project which still need to be addressed by the project consortium.

oil spill prompts demand for moratorium on shell's sakhalin ii project

Environmental campaigners staged a mock whale funeral outside London's European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to protest at the threat posed to the Western Pacific grey whale by plans to expand the oil and gas extraction in the region. image: Nick Cobbing/friends of the earth ewni

Conservation organisations are demanding that Royal Dutch/Shell declare a moratorium on marine activities on the Sakhalin II project, following a Category 2 oil spill at Sakhalin Island on September 8. The spill occurred when a dredge contracted by Sakhalin Energy (Royal Dutch/Shell's Sakhalin II operating company) ran aground at Kholmsk, spilling an estimated 1,300 barrels of fuel. It took nine hours for their contractor for oil spill emergency response to arrive and conduct visual observations, and more than 48 hours for it to transport necessary equipment to the site. The groups call on Shell's Chairman, Lord Oxburgh, to declare a moratorium on Sakhalin II marine operations until the oil giant implements an internationally-accepted Oil Spill Prevention and Response Plan covering all of the project's operations. Download the letter to Lord Oxburgh on the www.bankwatch.org website.

clean up the oil spill not just your image, shell told

Oil giant Shell has outraged environmental groups by moves to appoint a “crisis management” public relations officer for its troubled multi-billion dollar Sakhalin project in Russia 's Far East , just three weeks after one of its dredging vessels ran aground causing a Category 2 oil spill at Kholmsk on Sakhalin . The “Crisis Management Specialist” role, within the External Affairs department, requires communications skills, but no specific technical understanding of oil industry emergency procedures.

Dmitry Lisitsyn, of Sakhalin Environment Watch, commented, "The people of Sakhalin Island want oil operations to be made safe – not just someone to tell them they are safe... Shell must clean up its act, not its image."

big oil suppressing protest in sakhalin

On January 20th 2005, the Sakhalin Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North held a "Green Wave" protest action against the two oil and gas projects - Sakhalin 1 and 2 - that are under development by Exxon, Shell, British Petroleum, and their subsidiaries. At -30 degrees Celcius, people blocked the main roads to the Sakhalin I and II production point. The indigenous peoples of Sakhalin, -The Nivkhi, Evenki, and Uilta - who practice a traditional self-subsistence economy based on fishing, hunting, reindeer herding and wild plant gathering, are bearing the brunt of the negative ecological impacts of the Sakhalin extraction projects. Read more about the Nivkhi

The absence of complete and reliable project information and the companies' unwillingness to engage seriously in dialogue with indigenous peoples' organizations have forced the Association to prepare for direct action. Indigenous peoples, FoE Japan, FoE EWNI and FoE Netherlands sent letters to potential lenders, demanding an independent cultural impact assessment and establishment of a Development Fund. The protest was suspended in february while indigenous people are in discussion with the companies.

Although an “agreement” with the oil company was signed by two indigenous group representatives, the oil companies have thus far failed to sign a Memorandum elaborated by the communities. Meanwhile, Shell-led Sakhalin Energy and Exxon Oil and Gas are put pressure upon participants in the run-up to the Green Wave protest action by visiting indigenous settlements in an attempt to persuade them not to participate in the protest and threatening to fire employees who participate.

protests over sakhalin soil dumping
Over a hundred activists on Sakhalin Island protested in April 2005 against dumping of soil in the Aniva bay at the construction site of the Sakhalin-2 liquified natural gas plant. Divers of the Sakhalin Diving club found that dumping had taken place on the breeding ground of crabs and scallops. Unsanctioned dumping of soil during work to build docks for the Sakhalin-2 project may affect the bay's biological resources. Another two million tons of soil is scheduled for dumping in the central part of the bay, a journalist learned. Sakhalin Energy has launched an internal investigation into the incident.

Find out why a senior member of the British royal family risked controversy when he visited the Sakhalin II project.

for more information:

more about the financing of the project
about the Sakhalin II project read the background
about the campaign visit www.bankwatch.org
more campaign information www.sakhalin.environment.ru/en/ or
Visit Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland