- BP is dumping its 19.75% stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft after a thirty-year involvement.
- The BP CEO said its business with Rosneft “simply cannot continue” following the attack on Ukraine.
- The move is expected to cost BP $25 billion in non-cash charges by the end of Q1, the company said.
BP is dumping its 19.75% stake in Russia’s state-backed oil giant Rosneft, citing the invasion of Ukraine as a “fundamental change” ending the 30-year business partnership.
The move will cost the British oil and gas company $25 billion in non-cash charges by the end of the first quarter, the company said in a statement. Rosneft is responsible for nearly half of BP’s oil and gas reserves, Reuters reported.
“Like so many, I have been deeply shocked and saddened by the situation unfolding in Ukraine and my heart goes out to everyone affected,” BP CEO Bernard Looney said in the announcement. “It has caused us to fundamentally rethink BP’s position with Rosneft.”
Looney will resign from Rosneft’s board immediately, along with former BP group chief executive Bob Dudley.
BP chair Helge Lund said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led the company’s board to determine that its controversial involvement with Rosneft “simply cannot continue.”
“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 BP board believes these decisions are in the best long-term interests of all our shareholders,” he said.
Rosneft CEO Igor Senchin was among the 10 Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the Biden Administration on Thursday.
“Elites close to Putin continue to leverage their proximity to the Russian President to pillage the Russian state, enrich themselves, and elevate their family members into some of the highest positions of power in the country at the expense of the Russian people,” the US Treasury said in the sanctions announcement.
