Exxon exits $4 billion Russia investment over Ukraine attack

ExxonMobil is closing its operations in Russia, joining the energy giants BP, Equinor and Shell to withdraw from the third largest oil producer in the world after its invasion of Ukraine.

Exxon announced on Wednesday afternoon that it was abandoning the Sakhalin-1 project, an oil and gas operation on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East that the company operates on behalf of an international consortium. Exxon is also dropping new investment in Russia, the company said.

“ExxonMobil supports the people of Ukraine as they seek to defend their freedom and determine their own future as a nation. We deplore Russia’s military action that violates Ukraine’s territorial integrity and endangers its population.” say the company in your ad. Exxon did not specify a deadline for withdrawing from its operations in Russia.

Exxon’s holdings in Russia were valued at more than $ 4 billion as of 2021, according to its latest annual report. The Sakhalin-1 project, which Exxon has been running since 2005, employs 700 Russians and has generated $ 16 billion for the Russian government, according to Exxon. Reuters.

Although Russia’s oil and gas sector has so far escaped Western sanctions, other major fossil fuel companies are downsizing their business there, at least temporarily.

Shell said Monday it was leaving its business with Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, leaving some $ 3 billion in assets behind. BP, Russia’s largest foreign investor, said last week that it would leave its nearly 20% stake in Rosneft, Russia’s national oil and gas company, at a cost of up to $ 25 billion. Equinor of Norway also leaves its $ 1.2 billion investment in Russia.

Russia is the world’s second-largest gas producer and third-largest oil producer, with about 40 percent of its federal budget coming from fossil fuel exports, and its invasion of Ukraine is hitting global energy markets. The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose to $ 110 a barrel on Wednesday, its highest level since the summer of 2014.

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• Ukraine