BP on Sunday said it was ending its business ventures in Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA-EFE
Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Norway's state-owned energy company announced Monday that it was pulling out of Russia over the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, becoming the second major oil and gas company to do so after BP said it was withdrawing a day prior.
Equinor said its board of directors has decided to stop new investments into Russia and that it would start the process to exit from its joint ventures in the country.
"We are all deeply troubled by the invasion of Ukraine, which represents a terrible setback for the world, and we are thinking of all those who are suffering because of the military action," Equinor President and CEO Anders Opedal said in a statement.
The company owned by Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said it has been in Russia for more than 30 years and entered an agreement with state-owned Rosneft in 2012. In 2020, it acquired a 49% stake in KrasGenNac for about $550 million. At that time, it held 12 exploration and production licenses in Eastern Siberia with one of those projects alone expected to produce up to 40,000 barrels of oil a day by 2024.
Equinor valued its long-term assets in Russia at $1.2 billion though it expects that its decision to leave will impact the price of its assets.
"In the current situation, we regard our position as untenable," Opedal said, with his company adding that it will now prepare a proposal to contribute funding for humanitarian assistance in the region.
The announcement by Equinor came hours after Britain's BP said Sunday that it was exiting Russia and its 19.75% share in Rosneft that its held since 2013.
BP said it will be exiting the market and its two nominated directors for the Russian oil and gas company's board have resigned, effective immediately. It valued its stake in the company at $14 billion.
"Welcome news that BP is joining the rapidly growing list of organizations and governments isolating Russia over Putin's brutal and miscalculated invasion of Ukraine," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted following the announcement.
Like Equinor, BP has been operating in Russia for more than 30 years and Russia's attack on Ukraine "represents a fundamental change," said Helge Lund, BP's chair, in a statement.
"It has led the BP board to conclude, after a thorough process, that our involvement with Rosneft, a state-owned enterprise, simply cannot continue," Lund said. "The Rosneft holding is no longer aligned with BP's business and strategy and it is now the board's decision to exit BP's shareholding in Rosneft."
The announcements follow Russia early last week conducting an early morning invasion of Ukraine that has been met with international condemnation.
Western nations have imposed a series of collaborative sanctions, including barring a number of its banks from the SWIFT international payment network, against Russia, further isolating it and causing concerns among international companies that do businesses in the country.
A day after the attack, Germany canceled certification of the $11 billion, 750-mile Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany.
The move by Equinor and BP is expected to put pressure on other companies to exit Russia.
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