Equinor ASA has transferred its participating interests in four Russian joint ventures to Rosneft and is released from all future commitments and obligations, the company said in a release May 25. An agreement to exit the Kharyaga project has also been signed.
Equinor began the exit process in late February following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Equinor has halted all new investments into Russia, stopped trading oil and gas products from Russia, and announced an impairment of $1.08 billion on the balance sheet as of Mar. 31, 2022 (OGJ Online, Feb. 28, 2022; OGJ Mar. 15, 2022).
The company had been a partner since 1996 in the Kharyaga oil field development in the Timan-Pechora basin in the Nenets Autonomous District, 60 km north of the Arctic Circle. It also was involved in the AngaraOil LLC licenses, Domanik formation pilot project, and North-Komsomolskoye onshore discovery, in partnership with Rosneft.
The exit from all Joint Ventures has been completed in accordance with Norwegian and EU sanctions legislation related to Russia, the company said.