Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
ExxonMobil is following its peers in the energy industry and will cease operations in Russia and refrain from making new investments in the country, in response to Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine.
The company holds a 30 per cent stake, alongside Rosneft, Japan's Sodeco and India's ONGC Videsh, in the Sakhalin Island oil and gas fields in Russia’s far east.
ExxonMobil will discontinue operations and take measures to exit the business, but did not provide a time frame, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Its business in the country is valued at more than $4 billion, according to its last annual report.
"In response to recent events, we are beginning the process to discontinue operations and developing steps to exit the Sakhalin-1 venture," the oil giant said.
"Our role as operator goes beyond an equity investment. The process to discontinue operations will need to be carefully managed and closely co-ordinated with the co-venturers in order to ensure it is executed safely. Given the current situation, ExxonMobil will not invest in new developments in Russia."
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A monitor displays a projectile striking the regional state administration building in Kharkiv, as the Russian invasion continues. Reuters -
People help a wounded woman in the aftermath of Russian shelling in Kharkiv. EPA -
Ukrainian emergency service personnel carry the body of a victim following shelling in Kharkiv. AP -
Students who fled the conflict rest in a refugee camp in Voluntari, Romania. AP -
Members of an Ukrainian civil defence unit pass new assault rifles to the opposite side of a blown-up bridge on Kiev’s northern front. AFP -
Civilians cross a river on Kiev's northern front. AFP -
A woman takes photos of a destroyed accommodation building near a checkpoint in Brovary, outside Kiev. AP -
The city hall of Kharkiv, damaged by Russian shelling. AFP -
Debris litters the square outside the damaged Kharkiv city hall. AFP -
A Ukrainian woman sleeps on the floor of the railway station in Zahonyi close to the Hungary/Ukraine border. AFP -
A medical worker attends to wounded man at a hospital in Brovary, outside Kiev. AP -
Refugees from Ukraine in a tent at the Medyka border crossing, Poland. AP -
Debris outside the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile, in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A student evacuated from Ukraine is embraced by her family after arriving at Tunis-Carthage International Airport in Tunisia. AFP -
Rescuers in a building damaged by a missile in central Kharkiv. Reuters -
An ambulance is visible through the damaged window of a vehicle hit by bullets in Kiev, Ukraine. Reuters -
Territorial defence members prepare to head out on patrol in Kiev. EPA -
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech on screen during the opening of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. AP -
A policeman detains a young demonstrator during a protest against Russia's attack on Ukraine in St Petersburg, Russia. AP -
Local residents in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, prepare Molotov cocktails. Reuters -
Residents clean a bomb shelter under an out-of-service cinema in central Zhytomyr. Reuters -
Ukrainian volunteers tear cloth into strips to make camouflage nets in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP -
Part of the military convoy north-west of Invankiv, Ukraine. AP -
Mark Goncharuk, a young boy from Kiev, leaves his father behind as he travels with the rest of his family towards the border. Reuters -
People hold an anti-war protest outside the Russian Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters -
A crater caused by shelling on the outskirts of Kiev. AFP -
People queue outside a grocery store in the Ukrainian capital. EPA -
Ukrainian soldiers stand at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square, in Kiev. EPA -
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, second left, and Davyd Arakhamia, faction leader of the Servant of the People party in the Ukrainian Parliament, third right, attend the peace talks in the Gomel region of Belarus. AP -
People who have fled the Russian invasion in Ukraine, clamour to board a bus bound for a refugee centre established in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Hanna Pavlovna Lukasz, from Mirhord, Ukraine, said her sons, aged 12 and 8, and her 66-year-old mother had been waiting on the Ukrainian side of the border crossing with Medyka, Poland, for four days. AP -
A volunteer from Kiev prepares a rear post with trenches in the city. AFP -
A child being treated for cancer rests in the bomb shelter of the oncology ward at a hospital in Kiev. Getty -
Police officers check occupants of a suspicious car in Kiev, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. Reuters -
A woman from Ukraine uses a phone to listen to a speech by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a refugee shelter in Beregsurany, Hungary. Reuters -
Shelves empty of bread after a curfew was lifted as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kiev. Reuters -
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, left, and President Zelenskyy. AFP -
Snow-covered shoes donated for those fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
People who have fled Ukraine wait for a bus to transport them away from the border crossing in Medyka. Reuters -
Norwegian soldiers of the Nato-enhanced forward presence battalion pose at a military plane as they arrive at an airport in Kaunas, Lithuania. AP -
A person fleeing Ukraine sits during snowfall at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Footage reportedly of Russian Buk missile system vehicles on a road before a drone strike near Malyn, Ukraine. Reuters -
An explosion after what are said to be Russian Buk missile system vehicles on a road are struck by a drone. Reuters -
The monument to Russian troops from the Second World War, after the figures’ hands were painted red, at the Red Army memorial in Sofia, Bulgaria. EPA -
The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, is lit up with the colours of Ukraine’s national flag in a show of support. AP -
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the construction site of the National Space Agency on the premises of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre, in Moscow. EPA -
A man looks out from a train, at the railway station in Lviv, Ukraine. The UN has estimated the conflict could produce as many as four million refugees. AP -
A Ukrainian boy waits for his mother after passing the border crossing point in Siret, northern Romania. EPA -
Russian policemen detain a demonstrator in St Petersburg, during a protest against the country's military actions in Ukraine. EPA -
Ukrainian soldiers at a check point in the city of Zhytomyr. Reuters -
Residents prepare petrol bombs to defend the city, in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Reuters -
A pro-Russian fighter sits inside a tank in the separatist self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, in the Luhansk region, Ukraine. Reuters -
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, second left, and Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and First Deputy Defence Minister Valery Gerasimov, left, during their meeting in Moscow. AP -
Ukrainians and supporters gather during a demonstration in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens against the Russian military's operation in Ukraine. AFP -
Ukrainian Territorial Defence fighters test an automatic grenade launcher taken from a destroyed Russian infantry mobility vehicla after a battle in Kharkiv. AFP
Earlier on Tuesday, French energy giant TotalEnergies said it supports EU sanctions against Russia in response to its military offensive in Ukraine "regardless of the consequences [currently being assessed] on its activities in Russia," but the company stopped short of saying it would divest or pull out of the country. It holds a 19.4 per cent interest in Novatek, as well as other oil and gas projects in Russia, according to its website.
TotalEnergies said it will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia and "condemns" Russia's military offensive in Ukraine.
Austria’s OMV also said on Tuesday it had terminated a sale agreement with Gazprom for a 24.98 per cent stake in the development in the Urengoy gas and condensate field, and says it will review involvement in Nord Stream 2 Pipeline.
Rival BP agreed to unload its Rosneft 20 per cent stake and Shell said it will end its alliance with Gazprom as well. Italian oil company Eni said it plans to sell its stake in the Blue Stream pipeline carrying Russian gas to Turkey that it co-owns with Russia's Gazprom, according to Reuters. British Gas owner Centrica said it will exit gas supply agreements with its Russian counterparts, including Gazprom, due to the Ukraine crisis.
Western oil giants have come under pressure after the US and EU allies imposed tighter sanctions on Russia in response to its military offensive in Ukraine.
The punitive measures against Moscow disconnect certain Russian banks from the global Swift payments network, in addition to various sanctions aimed at tightening the noose around Moscow that include the US Treasury prohibiting Americans from engaging in transactions with the Bank of Russia, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the country's Ministry of Finance.
These measures follow US and EU moves last week that limit Russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen, as well as the freezing of Moscow's assets and denying it access to their financial markets, curtailing its ability to raise funding.
“Stricter rules around access to the international financial system could hurt international oil companies’ ability to receive dividends and other payments,” according to global consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “Targeted sanctions against their Russian partners seem unlikely, but would present a much more profound challenge.”
Still, despite western measures, the US and EU have notably not placed sanctions on Russia’s energy and commodity industries, which are integral to the global economy. That has averted an energy crisis, as Russia is among the world's biggest producers of oil and natural gas, in addition to nickel, aluminium, palladium, cobalt, copper, wheat and barley.
Moscow has not disrupted energy supplies to European countries and gas exports to Europe from Russia have increased since the start of the conflict, as they are excluded from sanctions. On Tuesday, Gazprom said it was delivering 109.6 million cubic metres of gas to European customers through Ukrainian territory.
"It remains in Gazprom’s, Ukraine’s, and Europe’s interest to continue steady pipeline supplies for as long as possible," said Rystad Energy’s senior analyst Kaushal Ramesh.
"Bullishness has crept in from the liquified natural gas (LNG) side, as the latest tranche of sanctions from the UK have targeted Russian shipping and we may see LNG vessels with any discernible connections to Russia get turned away from UK ports. Further upside awaits if other European countries follow suit."
Meanwhile, Brent, the global benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, Brent, was 7.6 per cent higher at $112.95 per barrel at 5.11pm UAE time on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was up 7.54 per cent, trading at $111.21 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the Opec+ 23-member alliance of oil producers convened and agreed to bring 400,000 barrels per day of crude to the market in April, sticking to its schedule of monthly increases in crude production, despite lingering concerns that an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict could potentially disrupt global energy supplies.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed on Tuesday to release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency stocks to bring stability to energy markets.
The Paris-based agency said Russia’s military offensive had come against a backdrop of “already tight global oil markets, heightened price volatility, commercial inventories that are at their lowest level since 2014 and a limited ability of producers to provide additional supply in the short term”.
“The situation in energy markets is very serious and demands our full attention. Global energy security is under threat, putting the world economy at risk during a fragile stage of the recovery,” IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, said.
