By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Vladimir Soldatkin
MOSCOW, April 30 (Reuters) - Oil majors are beginning togrow cool on new projects in Russia as U.S. and EU sanctionsover Moscow's actions in Ukraine make investment increasinglyrisky and after the Kremlin's threat to review the West's rolein Russia's energy industry, the world's largest.
"I don't think we will be jumping into new investments inthe short term," Royal Dutch Shell's chief financialofficer Simon Henry told a conference call on Wednesday.
The United States and the European Union imposed moresanctions on Russia this week as part of their drive to putpressure on Moscow for the annexation of Crimea and what theysee as direct support for pro-Russian separatists that haveseized public buildings across eastern Ukraine.
Henry's comment came only weeks after Shell Chief ExecutiveBen van Beurden visited Russia and met Russian PresidentVladimir Putin to take part in celebrations marking 20 years ofthe Sakhalin-2 gas project, one of the biggest foreign directinvestments in Russia.
"It was planned a long time ago. I wouldn't read too muchinto the timing of the visit," said Henry.
BP's Chief Executive Bob Dudley also visited Moscowearlier this month and said the company was "rock solid" withits investment in the country, where it owns a fifth of theKremlin's national oil champion Rosneft.
However, investors are increasingly worried about theRussian exposure of major oil companies. Rosneft chairman IgorSechin, a close ally of Putin, was put on the sanctions listthis week, but the company, along with state gas behemothGazprom and its executives, escaped sanctions for now.
Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow saw no need for countersanctions but could reconsider the participation of Westerncompanies in energy projects.
Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves LansdownStockbrokers, said exposure to Russia was among the mainchallenges for Shell's operations.
ROCKY HISTORY
Both BP and Shell have a bumpy history of relations with theKremlin. Shell owns 27.5 percent in Sakhalin-2, one of theworld's largest liquefied natural gas projects, supplying Asiawith super-cooled gas.
Gazprom owns 50 percent in the project, which it obtained in2006 following months of pressure from state authorities onShell over cost overruns and environmental compliance.
Shell denied any violations but had to cede control over the$22 billion project, Russia's biggest single foreign investmentat the time, in a move analysts described as one of the biggestexamples of the Kremlin's resource nationalism.
Those investment are dwarfed by those of BP.
"BP has a greater than average exposure to Russia, where ithas close to 25 percent of its production base," analysts fromBarclays said in a note.
BP ended up with 19.75 percent in Rosneft after theKremlin-controlled company acquired BP's TNK-BP venture for $55billion last year.
BP agreed to sell its TNK-BP share to Rosneft after a rowwith the Soviet-born TNK-BP shareholders during which Dudley wasforced out as the head of the venture and fled Russia, saying hefeared for his security.
This month, Dudley said BP could help enhance relationsbetween Russia and the West.
"We are in close contact with political leaders in differentparts of the world, and of course here in the UK," BP's chairmanCarl-Henric Svanberg said this month when explaining what roleBP could play to help sort the crisis.
LOBBYING
The Kremlin has long relied on support from Western businessleaders and some politicians to advocate its case in the West.
Germany's former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder helped promoteone of Russia's largest gas projects, the Nord Stream pipelineto Germany.
The pipeline helped Moscow raise its share of Europe's gassupply to 30 percent last year from 25 percent a few years ago.
A close ally of Schroeder, the former mayor of Hamburg,Henning Voscherau, is currently serving as chairman of SouthStream, another massive Gazprom project involving France's EDF, Italy's Eni and Germany's BASF,which is due to deliver more Russian gas to southern Europe.
Total's chief Christophe de Margerie is expectedto travel to Russia next month alongside Dudley and van Beurdenfor the country's main annual economic conference, the St.Petersburg Economic Forum, which Putin traditionally uses tolure new investments in the country.
Total relies heavily on Russia for future production growthas it has a 20 percent stake in Yamal LNG project, one of thelargest LNG projects in the world, and also owns 17 percent inRussia's No.2 gas firm Novatek.
Novatek is co-owned by Gennady Timchenko, a businessmentargeted by Washington's Ukraine-related sanctions as a memberof Putin's inner circle.
It is not clear if top executives from U.S. energy majorswill travel to the St. Petersburg forum after the FT reportedthat U.S. banks Citigroup and Goldman Sachs wereunlikely to send their chiefs to the gathering.
Of all the U.S. majors, ExxonMobil is most deeplyinvolved in Russia as an operator in Sakhalin-1, one of threeRussian production-sharing deals with foreign companies.
Oil production started in 2005, and amounts to around150,000 barrels per day. The project has yet to unlock its fullgas potential as Exxon has been unable to agree with Gazprom ongas deliveries and price.
Exxon, Eni and Statoil have also agreed with Sechin todevelop the Russian Arctic shelf.
Russia needs Western technology to help it tap the Arctic aswell as shale oil projects. Analysts say the start of productionat these projects is 15-20 years away.
Other U.S. majors have smaller exposure to Russia.
ConocoPhillips sold out of its projects with privatemajor Lukoil several years ago as part of its assetdisposal programme.
Chevron never really built up a presence in Russiaafter a failed attempt to buy into Yukos, which was laternationalised by the Kremlin as part of its campaign to punisholigarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky for political activities. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Will Waterman)
