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Now the oil company Equinor is worth more than NOK 1,000 billion for the first time. The share jumped to another record after the Oslo Stock Exchange opened on Wednesday, and rises almost three percent to over 308 kroner per piece a few minutes into trading.
The rise is due to another jump in oil prices due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the massive economic and financial sanctions that have come from western countries against Moscow. There are reports of major problems with selling Russian oil in the market due to the restrictions, which reduces supply in the global market – in addition to general unrest in all markets.
On Wednesday morning, the North Sea oil Brent is up over four percent to 112 dollars, and is trading at the highest levels since the autumn of 2014.
Equinor’s market value had already risen enormously throughout 2021 and further into 2022. Since the end of 2020, the share has more than doubled.
The reason is high raw material prices – especially historical gas prices. There have been crazy conditions in the European gas market that Equinor delivers to, with constantly new price records throughout the autumn and towards Christmas. After declining somewhat, prices have risen again after Russia invaded Ukraine, due to fears in the market that large volumes could fall away, either due to acts of war or because they are being deliberately reduced.
Russia is by far Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas, and a third of this export goes through Ukraine in pipelines.
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Equinor’s results have reflected developments in the commodity markets. The company set a new record in both the third and fourth quarters, most recently with more than NOK 130 billion in adjusted profit before tax.
Russland-exit
On Monday night, the Norwegian oil company announced that it would withdraw from Russia and the strategic cooperation with Rosneft, the Russian giant which is 40 percent owned by the state and led by Igor Sechin, one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest.
Analyst Teodor Sveen-Nilsen in Sparebank 1 Markets commented on the decision as follows:
– We must remember that the net effect for Equinor is positive due to the high gas and oil prices. Russia makes up a very small part of the company’s operations. But they will probably struggle to find good buyers for the business in Russia.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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