Royal Dutch Shell and its partners in the $22 billion Sakhalin-2 project have accepted cash and a promise of future cooperation with Gazprom in a deal to let the Russian firm into the venture, a source close to talks between the companies said yesterday. Gazprom had originally offered Shell a share of its Zapolyarnoye field as a swap for 25 per cent of Sakhalin-2. But after the project's costs doubled, Gazprom reopened negotiations with Shell and its Japanese partners Mitsui and Mitsubishi. Both sides have said they hope to clinch a deal this week.

Shell spokesmen in London and Moscow declined to comment.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.