Moscow - The chief executive of Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell Ben van Beurden has held talks with President Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian strongman that the company wanted to expand its operations in Russia.
The meeting between the Shell chief and Putin was the latest signal from the Kremlin that it is keen to keep ties with European big business despite the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
Putin had held a similar meeting on 26 March with the chief executive of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, who reassured the Russian president that the German industrial giant planned a long-term investment in Russia.
Van Beurden told Putin that Shell wanted to expand the Sakhalin-2 offshore oil and gas project in the Pacific which is already delivering Russian LNG to Asian markets.
Intervention
The project is controlled by Russian gas giant Gazprom with Shell as the main minority shareholder.
"I think that now is the right moment for expanding the project," van Beurden reportedly told Putin.
According to media reports, European Union states with significant economic interests in Russia such as Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, are reluctant to impose tough sanctions against the country over its intervention in Ukraine.