Scotland's premier backs Russian equity sell-off

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said UK oil and gas companies should move toward "getting out" of Russian interests and partnerships.

Speaking to local media at Aberdeen's Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) headquarters, the first minister praised the industry for efforts already made to halt Russian oil and gas deals.

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BP sold off its 19.75% stake in state-owned oil producer Rosneft on February 27, removing its chief executive Bernard Looney and former CEO Bob Dudley from the board of directors. Norway's Equinor has put $1.2bn in non-current Russian assets up for sale saying its position in the country has become "untenable".  The country's $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund is pulling out of 47 Russian assets, including Gazprom, Lukoil and Surgutneftegas.

More divestments should be expected, Sturgeon suggested. "If you've got interests or partnerships in Russia, now is the time to think about getting out of that," Sturgeon said. "We must make sure that Putin, his regime and his network of oligarchs are as isolated as possible."

"I would call on other companies to follow [BP and Equinor] and make sure that this international condemnation of Russia, not just in action but in words, is as strong as it possibly can be. Governments have to lead by example in terms of the sanctions imposed, but big multinational companies have a part to play too."

Scotland and its adjacent waters contain the largest oil and gas fields in the UK's sector of the North Sea, with the oldest of these first discovered in the 1970s. Scottish government figures show output reached 77.2mn metric tons of oil equivalent in 2019, accounting for 82% of UK production.

ETZ Ltd. was formed by the Scottish and UK governments in April 2021 to drive low carbon projects through onshore infrastructure and supporting services.

Earlier in the interview, the first minister had urged the UK government to relax border controls to allow Ukrainian refugees into Britain provisionally without having asylum seeker applications approved.