The multinational energy giant said on Wednesday that pipelines from two offshore platforms would be moved 20km further south of the original location, away from the Western Grey Whales' key feeding grounds.

But environmentalist group Bankwatch said Shell’s announcement did not allay its concerns and called on project financiers, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to withhold funding.

Sakhalin Energy last year halted pipeline work for two years while it considered environmental impacts and commissioned a World Conservation Union study that was released last month.

Sakhalin Energy chief executive Ian Craig said in a statement that the Sakhalin Energy had been studying the WCU report since mid-February and had decided on the option which involved the most southerly pipe laying route.

Sakhalin Energy also had to consider onshore environmental impacts, including any on the indigenous people and their reindeer herds, Craig said.

But Bankwatch said Sakhalin Energy was ignoring the report's recommendation that it move a drilling and production platform further from the whale area.

Campaigns co-ordinator Petr Hlobil said in a statement that international financiers should insist on further changes to the Sakhalin-2 project before signing any deal.

The $US10 billion project, which is minority-owned by Japan's Mitsubishi and Mitsui, is Russia's biggest foreign investment. Its first cargo of LNG is due for delivery in late 2007.