London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

BP to offload stake in Rosneft amid Ukraine conflict

BP to offload stake in Rosneft amid Ukraine conflict

BP is to offload its 19.75% stake in Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft after Russia's "act of aggression in Ukraine".

The oil giant had come under pressure from the UK government to make the move since Thursday's invasion.

It has held the shareholding in the Russian company since 2013.

BP chief executive Bernard Looney has resigned "with immediate effect" from the Rosneft board, as has fellow BP-nominated director Bob Dudley.

Rosneft said thirty years of successful cooperation had been ruined and blamed BP's decision on "unprecedented political pressure", according to reports from Russian news agencies.

Mr Looney had been on the Rosneft board since 2020, alongside its chairman Igor Sechin, who is a close friend and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The PA News agency reported Mr Looney was in Russia as recently as October, when he appeared on a panel with Mr Putin, which he later described as a "privilege".

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng spoke to the BP boss on Friday and left him in "no doubt about the seriousness of government concerns about BP's overexposure to Russian interests" according to an official.

BP chairman Helge Lund said that, while BP had operated in Russia for more than 30 years and had "brilliant Russian colleagues", Russia's attack on Ukraine was "having tragic consequences across the region" and represented a fundamental change.

"It has led the BP board to conclude, after a thorough process, that our involvement with Rosneft, a state-owned enterprise, simply cannot continue."


BP's share in Russian state oil giant Rosneft has long felt uncomfortable; this week under heavy political pressure it became untenable.

The chairman of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, is a close ally of President Putin. Rosneft supplies fuel to the Russian army.

Immediately offloading the stake to a potentially inappropriate buyer was not an option.

The company has decided to "divest" - meaning it will sever its financial ties with Rosneft, stop taking a dividend and step back from its two seats on the board.

Company officials say it is too soon to say exactly how this stake will be disposed of.

It could potentially be seized, or sold.

It will mean a significant financial hit, but a price BP had little choice but to pay.

Mr Looney said that he had been "deeply shocked and saddened" by the situation in Ukraine and it had caused BP to fundamentally rethink its position with Rosneft.

"I am convinced that the decisions we have taken as a board are not only the right thing to do, but are also in the long-term interests of BP," he said.

Mr Kwarteng welcomed the move, saying: "Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine must be a wake-up call for British businesses with commercial interests in Putin's Russia."

A Rosneft oil rig drilling the first exploration well in the Khatanga Bay, Russia


BP's latest annual results, published two weeks ago, revealed Rosneft accounted for $2.7bn (£2bn) of its profits, about a fifth of its total.

The multinational, which has its headquarters in London, admitted last year that sanctions on Russia could be problematic for its business and the relinquishing of the Rosneft stake comes after western countries imposed a series of economic sanctions on Russia - including several banks being excluded from the Swift international payment system.

BP said it is too early to say how or to whom its stake in Rosneft will be offloaded. The firm will pay a $11bn charge when it writes off foreign exchange losses that have accumulated over the last few years and another charge relating to the value of its stake.

Rosneft has been under sanctions from the US and EU since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Norway's $1.3 trillion (£970bn) sovereign wealth fund, which is the world's largest, also announced it would freeze and divest its Russian assets on Sunday.

"We have decided to freeze the fund's investments and have begun a process of selling out," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said.

The fund's Russian assets were worth $2.83bn (£2.11bn) at the end of 2021. It is the fourth largest shareholder in Russian bank Sberbank and has stakes in Russian energy firms Gazprom and Lukoil.

Oil prices surged past $100 (£74) a barrel to hit their highest level for more than seven years after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

The shipping firms FedEx and UPS have also suspended all their services in and out of Russia. United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said that packages in transit to Ukraine and Russia will be returned to their senders for no additional cost where possible.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×