Norwegian Equinor to exit joint ventures in Russia – 02/28/2022

Norwegian energy company Equinor informed on Monday, 28, that it has decided to halt new investments in Russia and begin the process of its exit. joint ventures Russian army after Moscow’s attack on Ukraine. The decision comes after British giant BP announced on Sunday that it would pull out of its nearly 20% stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft.

“We are all deeply concerned about the invasion of Ukraine,” Chief Executive Anders Opedel said in a statement posted on the company’s website. “In the current situation, we consider our position to be unstable,” he says.

Equinor has been in Russia for more than 30 years, with the signing of a cooperation agreement with Russian oil company Rosneft in 2012. The Norwegian company has about 70 employees in the country, where it produces about 25,000 barrels of oil a day.

At the end of 2021, Equinor had $1.2 billion in non-current assets in Russia. “We hope that the decision to initiate the exit process joint ventures impacts the book value of Equinor’s Russian assets in Russia and leads to losses,” the company said.

In the statement, Equinor said it maintains close contact with authorities in Norway, the European Union, the United States and other countries and will continue to comply with any new restrictions relevant to its operations.