After confirming the halt of trading in Russian oil, Equinor shuts down its operations in the country.
Last month, Equinor said that it would exit its “untenable” joint ventures in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. It has now confirmed that Equinor will also stop trading Russian oil and oil products.
Henceforth, Equinor will not enter any new trades or engage in transport of oil from Russia. However, the company said that there are some contractual agreements prior to the invasion, such as a deal signed two month ago under which Equinor will receive four oil cargoes in March. Equinor has certain contractual commitments arising out of contracts entered into prior to the invasion.
This includes contracts signed in January this year, under which Equinor will receive four oil cargoes in March. Two of these are sold on to customers in Asia. The third is a naphta cargo that will be delivered to an Equinor contracted storage facility. The fourth is a feedstock cargo to be delivered at the Mongstad refinery in Norway.
Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said last month that the company is “deeply troubled” by the invasion of Ukraine which “represents a terrible setback for the world”.
In the same direction, Shell stopped buying Russian crude, aiming to phase out its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons from oil to natural gas over Ukraine.
Shell had apologized on March 8 for buying Russian oil after it had said it would pull out of its Russian operations.
In the meantime, U.S. President Joe Biden imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, amid strong support from American voters and lawmakers, even though the move will increase U.S. energy prices.
