FSUOGM: ExxonMobil sees abrupt Russian exit, saying assets expropriated

ExxonMobil confirmed to multiple media on October 17 that it had had its assets in Russia expropriated, marking an abrupt end to the nearly three decades that the US major has been working in the country.

The company entered Russia in 1995, securing operatorship of the Sakhalin-1 oil project in the Russian Far East – often cited as one of the most successful international oil ventures in Russian history. In a statement, a company representative said that “with two decrees, the Russian government has unilaterally terminated our interest in Sakhalin-1 and the project has been transferred to a Russian operator.”

ExxonMobil itself announced it would pull out of Russia in the wake of the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. But Russia later passed a law that prevented the sale of ExxonMobil’s 30% interest in Sakhalin-1, prompting the company to threaten legal proceedings. Meanwhile Rosneft, another partner at Sakhalin-1, accused the US major in May of causing a steep drop in the project's output. According to Russian media reports, it fell from a pre-war level of 220,000 barrels per day to a mere 10,000 bpd.

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