Shell’s looming billion-dollar blood money payday

Global Witness highlights that despite Shell's public claims of exiting Russia and writing down its assets, the company may receive over $1 billion from a bid by Novatek for its stake in the Sakhalin-II project. The author contends that 'writing down' assets is a meaningless accounting measure that does not end legal ownership. The document calls for Shell to donate these funds to Ukraine, noting that such a payout would cover more than 10% of the direct damage caused by Russia to Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

• Shell may receive more than $1 billion from a bid by the Russian gas company Novatek for its stake in the Sakhalin-II project, despite Shell previously writing down its Russian investments as losses.
• The process of 'writing down' an asset is described as an accounting measure that stops a company from counting an asset's value in its portfolio but does not alter the legal ownership of that asset.
• A payout from the Sakhalin-II sale would cover more than 10% of the direct damage inflicted on Ukraine's energy infrastructure by Russian attacks over the past year.
• The Ukrainian government and the World Bank estimate that the total costs for reconstruction in Ukraine will reach at least $411 billion.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Shell’s looming billion-dollar blood money payday. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/shells-looming-billion-dollar-blood-money-payday/

Chicago

Global Witness. Shell’s looming billion-dollar blood money payday. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/shells-looming-billion-dollar-blood-money-payday/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Global Witness |title=Shell’s looming billion-dollar blood money payday |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/shells-looming-billion-dollar-blood-money-payday/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{globalwitnessndshells, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Shell’s looming billion-dollar blood money payday}}, publisher = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-fuels/shells-looming-billion-dollar-blood-money-payday/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }