United kingdom. BP sells Rosneft shares, but then changes its mind

We will calculate the real negative consequences for the European economy after the sanctions on Russia in a few years, and there is already a striking example of the chaos that awaits us, which is BP which was forced before, under pressure from the government, to announce it. Selling stake in Rosneft. Then on February 28, he changed his mind and started talking about the slow sale.

BP will be ready to sell $14 billion to Russian energy giant Rosneft. A move to join the anti-Russia campaign could cost Britain’s major energy company as much as $25 billion by the end of the first quarter of this year. BP plans to offload its 19.75% stake in Russian state oil company Rosneft. The company came under pressure from the British government. At the end of 2021, the value of the holding was $14 billion.

The company also removed Rosneft’s dividend payment from its financial framework. BP has not disclosed details of how it will exit its stake. In the meantime, it is known that the directors appointed by BP will also resign from the Rosneft board of directors. They include CEO Bernard Looney and former BP Group CEO Bob Dudley.

In a press release, BP said: “Resignation from BP will require a change in its accounting treatment of its stake in Rosneft, and as a result, it expects to report non-cash material expenditures with results for the first quarter of 2022, which will be carried over to May ». The British oil and gas giant, which has held a stake in the Russian company since 2013, will not report on Rosneft’s reserves, production or profits.BP will also exit other Russian companies with Rosneft. These include three joint ventures worth about $1.4 billion at the end of 2021. Earlier this month, BP announced that it had started operations on its Herschel expansion project in the Gulf of Mexico..

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Quarting, who called Looney for a meeting on Friday, welcomed the sale. “The unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine should serve as a wake-up call for British companies with business interests in Putin’s Russia,” he said. The international response to the invasion intensified over the weekend, with some Russian banks now being banned from using the Swift system and the United States restricting the central bank’s access to international reserves. The Norwegian Asset Fund also said it would sell Russian assets.

Rosneft’s absence will be shown in the income statement. Last year, when the company benefited from higher oil and gas prices, Rosneft contributed $2.4 billion (£1.78 billion) in profit to replacement costs before interest and tax (BP’s preferred metric), about 17% of the total.. Jeffreys Analyst Giacomo Romeo, To InvestorschronicleA private sale was more likely, he said, but that this would come at a “material discount.” Rosneft’s current shareholders include the Qatar Investment Authority, which holds a similar stake in BP, while the company also has strong ties to China, which supports Russia through supply deals. Biraj Purkhataria, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said any sell-off would be “very tough”, even if it was a positive overall move, saying it would remove the bearish point from the long-term investment issue..

Lucia Giannini