Offshore staff
LONDON – ExxonMobil has decided to withdraw from certain joint ventures with Rosneft, citing difficulties as a result of US sanctions against Russian companies.
Wood Mackenzie analyst Samual Lussac said: “This decision puts a formal end to ExxonMobil’s long-term strategy of exploring theArctic, which led to the discovery of the giant Pobeda field [in the Kara Sea] in 2014.
“It also makes the progress at the Far East LNG project less likely.”
Lussac added: “This move is not a surprise in a time when US sanctions pressure keeps increasing. In practice, all Arctic offshore exploration and the Trizneft Pilot project (which focused on the Bazhenov shale oil development) were on hold since 2014.
“Rosneft loses a partner of choice, which could have brought financing and expertise for the development of the next wave of Russian oil supply.”
However, ExxonMobil will retain its 30% share inthe offshore Sakhalin-1 project in northeast Russia.
03/02/2018
