Exxon withdraws from Russia, leaving IDR 57 trillion in assets

Jakarta –

Exxon Mobil said it would pull out of Russia, leaving oil and gas assets worth more than US$4 billion, equivalent to Rp. 57.2 trillion (assuming exchange rate: Rp. 14,300) and halting new investment as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision would see Exxon withdraw from managing a large oil and gas production facility on Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East, and leave the fate of a proposed multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility there in the dark.

“We regret the actions of the Russian military that violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity and endangered its people,” the company said in a statement critical of the military’s intensifying offensive.

Exxon’s planned exit follows dozens of other Western companies, from Apple and Boeing to Norway’s BP PLC, Shell and Equinor ASA that have either ceased business or announced plans to leave their activities in Russia.

Previously, Exxon had begun expelling US employees from Russia, according to two people familiar with the matter. The number of staff evacuated is unclear. One person in the know said the company sent a plane to Sakhalin Island to pick up its staff.

Exxon operates three large offshore oil and gas fields operating on Sakhalin Island on behalf of a consortium of Japanese, Indian and Russian companies that includes Russia’s Rosneft. The group has advanced plans to add an LNG export terminal at the site.

“Exxon’s business in Russia is relatively small in its broader corporate context, so it doesn’t have the same significance as BP or TotalEnergies if it wants to leave its Russian assets,” said Anish Kapadia, energy director and mining researcher at Pallissy Advisors.

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