OSLO, Feb 28 — Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor said today it would stop its investments in Russia and pull out of its joint ventures in the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Equinor had US$1.2 billion (RM5 billion) in assets at the end of last year in Russia, where it has had a partnership with Russian oil company Rosneft since 2012.
“In the current situation, we regard our position as untenable,” Equinor’s president and chief executive Anders Opedal said in a statement.
“We will now stop new investments into our Russian business, and we will start the process of exiting our joint ventures in a manner that is consistent with our values,” he added.
Yesterday, British energy giant BP announced that it was pulling its 19.8-per cent stake in Rosneft following the Russian assault.
The Norwegian company produces some 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Russia, a fraction of its total production, which is around two million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Norway is a non-EU member but has applied the same sanctions against Russia as the European Union since the start of the Ukraine invasion.
Yesterday, the Norwegian government announced that the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, would pull out of Russia where it had 2.5 billion euros in shares and bonds at the end of last year. — AFP
