EBRD step away from Sakhalin II1 August 2007
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have just announced they will not fund Shell's Sakhalin II project.
Campaigners have opposed the Financing of this oil and gas project for several years.
The bank's decision to walk away from the project is a great success for those who have campaigned against it.
A snowy protest in Sakhalin against EBRD financing
Sakhalin II
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The project will site a drilling platform off the coast of Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East.
The platform and pipelines connecting it to land threaten the critically endangered western Pacific grey whale.
These pipelines will stretch nearly the entire length of Sakhalin Island to a massive oil and gas terminal in the south.
This pipeline will pass over fault lines, important salmon streams which are crucial for islander's livelihoods, and through the breeding grounds of many rare birds.
Construction on Sakhalin Island
With the EBRD pulling out of negotiations into how they could finance the project, Sakhalin II will now be built without the help of UK taxpayers money.
Finally big banks are realising that their support for fossil fuel extraction is bad for development. We're delighted that public money won't be used to fund this project.
Nick Rau, Friends of the Earth Energy Campaigner
Further reading
Feb 2006
EBRD consult on Shell's Sakhalin II
The EBRD hold a public consultation meeting on using taxpayers' money to fund Shell's Sakhalin II project.
April 2005
Sakhalin success: good news for whales
After months of lobbying, Shell has agreed to shift the route of its controversial Sakhalin II oil pipeline to avoid vital whale feeding grounds.
© Sakhalin Environment Watch, Friends of the Earth
