There have been three episodes of lava dome growth at Shiveluch volcano, Kamchatka since the Plinian explosive eruption in 1964. The episodes in 1980–1981, 1993–1995 and 2001–2004 have discharged at least 0.27 km3 of silicic andesite magma. A time-averaged mean extrusion rate of 0.2 m3/s is thus estimated for the last 40 years. Here the 2001–2004 activity is described and compared with the earlier episodes. The recent activity involved three pulses in extrusion rate and a transition to ongoing lava extrusion. Estimated magma temperatures are in the range 830 to 900 °C, with 850 °C as the best estimate, using the plagioclase−amphibole phenocryst assemblage and Fe−Ti oxides. Melt inclusions in amphibole and plagioclase have maximum water contents of 5.1 wt.%, implying a minimum pressure of ∼ 155 MPa for water-saturated conditions. The magma chamber depth is estimated to be about 5–6 km or more, a result consistent with geophysical data. The thicknesses of opx–mt–amph reaction rims on olivine xenocrysts are used to estimate the residence time of olivine crystals in the shallow chamber in the range 2 months to 4 years, suggesting replenishment of deeper magma into the shallow chamber contemporaneous with eruption. The absence of decompression-driven breakdown rims around amphiboles indicates ascent times of less than 7 days. Volcanological observations of the start of the 2001–2004 episode suggest approximately 16 days for the ascent time and a conduit equivalent to a cylinder of diameter approximately 53–71 m. Application of a conduit flow model indicates that the magma chamber was replenished during the 2001–2004 eruption, consistent with the results of olivine reaction rims, and that the chamber has an estimated volume of order 7 km3.