MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Shell in 2023 reduced liquefied natural gas (LNG) production by 5% compared to 2022 to 28.29 mln tons, due to the loss of volumes from the Sakhalin-2 project, the company said in a report.

In the Q1, Shell produced 7.19 mln tons of LNG, in the Q2 - 7.17 mln tons, in the Q3 - 6.88 mln tons, in the Q4 - 7.06 mln tons. In the Q1 of 2024, the company expects to increase production to 7-7.6 mln tons of LNG.

Shell LNG sales in 2023 rose 2% to 67.09 mln tons, compared with 65.98 mln tons a year earlier. In the Q1 of 2023, LNG sales reached 16.97 mln tons, in the Q2 - 16.03 mln tons, in the Q3 - 16.01 mln tons, in the Q4 - 18.09 mln tons.

At the end of 2023 Shell reduced hydrocarbon production by 5% to 1.8 mln barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd) due to the sale of assets, the company reported. In 2022, the figure reached 1.897 mln bpd. Compared with 2022, production decreased mainly due to asset sales, Shell said in a report. At the same time, the company noted that the growth in production at new projects was greater than the decline in production at old fields. In the Q4, the company increased oil and gas production by 7% compared to the same period in 2022 to 1.87 mln bpd.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in June 2022, appointing Russian Sakhalin Energy LLC as the Sakhalin-2 project's operator rather than Sakhalin Energy. Japanese Mitsui and Mitsubishi agreed to keep a stake in Sakhalin-2, but Shell, which owns 27.5% of the project, stated that it will not acquire a stake in the new business. Russian Gazprom owns a 50.00000001% stake in the project. The decree states that after the refusal, Shell's share must be appraised and sold. Novatek filed an application for it.