BP is seeking to divest the near 20 per cent stake in Russian state-oil company Rosneft it has held since 2013 in the starkest sign yet of the corporate backlash against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK-listed oil group said in a statement on Sunday that it would no longer report reserves, production or profits from Rosneft, and its chief executive, Bernard Looney, would resign from the Rosneft board “with immediate effect”.
BP did not specify how and when it might divest the Rosneft stake. It could write off the shareholding, sell it back to Rosneft or find another buyer. Analysts have speculated that a state-backed Chinese or Middle Eastern group might be interested in the shareholding, but it is thought that BP could struggle to find a bidder. The Qatar Investment Authority is already a major Rosneft shareholder.
BP said the changes in the accounting treatment of the Rosneft stake would lead to two “material non-cash” charges in its first-quarter results that could amount to as much as $25bn: an $11bn charge related to foreign exchange losses, and the difference at that time between the “fair value” and the “carrying value” of the stake, which is currently $14bn.
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