Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a presidential decree ordering the operator of an oil and gas development project in the Russian Far East -- known as the Sakhalin-2 project -- to hand over all of its assets to a newly established Russian firm without compensation.
Japanese companies are among the investors in the current operator, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy), and it was not immediately clear whether they would continue to invest in the project.
