British oil giant BP fell about 7% this Monday on the London Stock Exchange, the day after announcing that it was disposing of its 19.75% stake in the Russian group Rosneftafter Russia’s “aggression” on Ukraine.
By 0950 GMT, BP shares were down 6.74% to 353 pence in London trading. For its part, Rosneftwhich has a part of the capital listed on the British market, fell 40.26%, to 2.80 dollars.
BP, which had been present for more than 30 years in Russia, said in a statement late Sunday that its CEO Bernard Looney was resigning from Rosneft’s board “with immediate effect” as well as another BP-appointed director, its former manager Bob Dudley.
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine is an act of aggression that has tragic consequences in the region,” said BP Chairman Helge Lund.
This military action “led the BP board of directors to conclude (…) that our commitment to Rosneft, a state-owned company, could not continue.”
The oil company has canceled all its fuel oil shipments from the Russian Black Sea port of Taman due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to sources familiar with the matter.
BP was scheduled to load 60,000 tonnes of fuel oil on March 5, according to sources and a port loading list. The shipment was canceled although a tanker was found to load the crude.
BP was under pressure from the British government to exit Rosneft and its decision was immediately applauded by the Prime Minister. Boris Johnsonwho welcomed the “good news that BP is joining the growing list of organizations and governments isolating Russia.”
On Monday, the fall in BP shares was ultimately “fairly limited” considering the level of write-down provisions the group will have to include in its accounts, according to Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
(With information from Reuters)