BP to sell stake in Russian national oil company
BP announced on February 27 it had sold its 19.75% stake in Russia's national oil company Rosneft in light of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The UK major will remove Rosneft from its financial books starting in the first quarter of this year, and will report a non-cash charge in those results relating to the sale, it said. BP did not say whether it had entered talks with any buyers.
In a statement, BP chair Helge Lund was unequivocal in stating the reasons for the divestment.
"Russia's attack on Ukraine is an act of aggression which is having tragic consequences across the region," he said. "This military action represents a fundamental change. It has led the BP board to conclude, after a thorough process, that our involvement with Rosneft, a state-owned enterprise, simply cannot continue."
BP said having a stake in Rosneft no longer aligned with its business and strategy, and that exiting would benefit shareholders in the long term. Both CEO Bernard Looney and former company chief Bob Dudley would both resign their seats on Rosneft's board.
BP will also withdraw from the upstream joint ventures it has with Rosneft in Siberia, including Taas-Yuryakh, Yermak-Neftegaz and Kharampur. The latter is a major gas project, expected to produce 12bn m3/year and an additional 14bn m3/yr under two stages. The first phase is scheduled to start flowing gas this year.
BP has been an investor in Rosneft since 2013, when it acquired its stake as part of Rosneft's $55bn takeover of TNK-BP. Rosneft has not commented on the divestment. Besides the Russian state, the company's other shareholders include Qatar Petroleum.