Norway's sovereign fund joins Russian energy exodus
Norway's sovereign wealth fund has moved to divest its shareholdings in Russian majors Gazprom and Lukoil, the country's government announced on February 27.
The Government Pension Fund of Norway, the world's largest state asset holding company, will exit Gazprom, Lukoil and at least 45 other Russian assets and government bonds following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week. The fund's Russian investment programme has been halted and it is looking to finalise disposals of existing holdings, Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Store told a press gathering.
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Gazprom and Lukoil were the sovereign fund's second and third largest holdings at the end of 2020. An investment in Russian banking firm Sberbank, valued at 6bn kroner ($680mn), is the biggest. Among multiple Russian energy sector investments, the Norway fund also holds interest in the Siberian oil and gas producer Surgutneftegas.
Russian energy divestments are gathering pace as countries friendly to Ukraine push for investors to exit the sector. Gazprom, the world’s biggest gas producer, suffered an additional headache last week when Germany halted certification of the 55bn m3 Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Across the North Sea from Norway, Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon today called on oil and gas firms to "think about getting out" of Russian interests and partnerships.
Already, BP has decided its 19.8% stake in Russia's national oil company Rosneft is no longer tenable, while a member of the UK's shadow cabinet has urged Shell to offload its 27.5% stake in Gazprom's Sakhalin-2 offshore LNG project.