At a news conference with party representative Andrei Nagabin and Alexei Tyndik, a lawyer representing the interests of Sakhalin fisherman, Nagabin said, "The level of compensation should be calculated by independent specialists; funds received from the company have already gone to the construction of fish farms."
Nagabin said the compensation could also be used to develop regional infrastructure.
"On Sakhalin, holiday resorts could be created, tourist centers, extreme sports could be developed," he said.
Sakhalin Energy was established by Shell (which holds a 55% stake) and two Japanese companies, Mitsui (25%) and Mitsubishi (20%), to implement and develop the Sakhalin II project, which has an estimated cost of more than $20 billion. Sakhalin II is based on a production sharing agreement that was signed in 1994.
On January 27, Sakhalin Energy announced it had paid $11 million in compensation in October 2005 for environmental damage in the region.
In its statement, the company said, "The compensation paid went to developing four fish farms in Sakhalin, in accordance with an agreement between Sakhalin Energy, the administration of the Sakhalin Region, the Federal Fisheries Agency, and the state management of Sakhrybvod [the region's regulatory body for fishing]"
All construction and production work is being carried out on the basis of authorizing documents issued by federal and local authorities, the company said, adding that work on installing a pipeline from the north to the south of the island is being carried out during the winter, when the salmon does not spawn.
