ExxonMobil said it has exited Russia after government “expropriation” of its largest oilfield in the country, increasing the likelihood of a multibillion-dollar legal fight with the Kremlin.
The US oil supermajor said president Vladimir Putin’s government had “unilaterally terminated” its interest in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia’s far east, and that the field has been transferred to a domestic operator.
The announcement on Monday marked the latest cut in energy ties between Russia and the west following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, unravelling decades of effort by American and European companies to tap Russia’s vast oil and gas reserves.