Exxon Mobil Corp logo seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 24, 2018. REUTERS / Sergio Moraes
Houston, March 1 – Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) will leave operations in Russia, including oil fields, it said on Tuesday, becoming the last major Western energy company to leave the oil-rich country after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. .
The decision involves operations on a major oil and gas project on Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East. Britain’s BP PLC, Shell and Norway’s Equinor ASA (EQNR.OL) have previously revealed plans to abandon operations in Russia.
“Given the current situation, Exxon Mobil will not invest in new developments in Russia,” the company said in a statement.
Exxon did not provide a release schedule or comment on possible asset write-offs.
The company condemned Russia’s attack and said it supported the people of Ukraine.
“We deplore Russia’s military action, which violates Ukraine’s territorial integrity and threatens its people,” Exxon said.
Exxon has begun removing US nationals from Russia, Reuters reported earlier, based on two people familiar with the matter.
Last year, Exxon hired more than 1,000 people across Russia with offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and South Sakhalin, according to its website.
The number of evacuees evacuated was unclear on Tuesday. The company sent a plane to Sakhalin Island to pick up staff, said a source familiar with the matter.
Exxon manages three large offshore oil and gas fields with operations based on Sakhalin Island on behalf of an international consortium of Japanese, Indian and Russian companies. He was developing plans to add a liquefied natural gas export terminal to the site.
“Exxon’s Russian business is relatively small in the context of its larger company, so it doesn’t matter as much to BP or TotalEnergies if it has to abandon its Russian assets,” said Anish Kapadia, director of energy and mining researcher. case of Pallissy Advisors.
The company, which has been developing its Russian oil and gas fields since 1995, has come under pressure to sever ties with Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation.”
Sakhalin’s facilities, which Exxon has operated since its inception in 2005, are one of the largest single direct investments in Russia, according to a description of the project on Exxon’s website. The operation pumped up to 300,000 barrels of oil and gas a day.
Report by Gary McWilliams; Edited by Jonathan Oatis, Grant McCool and Kenneth Maxwell
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