Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 36 2022

FSUOGM INVESTMENT FSUOGM

Rosneft next to place at least

$1.4bn yuan bonds

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S largest oil company Rosneft 20 will be organised by the Regional Russian
announced its plans to place 10-year Chi- Development Bank (RRDB), Gazprombank,
Russian authorities are nese yuan-denominated bonds worth at least Region and Credit Bank of Moscow.
reportedly preparing CNY10bn ($1.44bn) on Moscow Exchange, with As a result of the placement Rosneft will
to invest $70bn into the coupon rate yet to be announced, Vedomosti at least double the nascent Russian yuan-de-
buying yuan and other daily reported. nominated bond market, following a total of
"friendly" countries. bne IntelliNews is closely following the CNY10bn placements from Rusal and Polyus.
“yuanisation” of the Russian economy after Mining and metals company Metalloinvest of
its military invasion of Ukraine, as seen in ris- sanctioned billionaire Alisher Usmanov also
ing volumes of yuan trading on the Moscow reportedly have planned a CNY2bn bond issue.
Exchange, and banks rushing to offer products "We care about alternative financing oppor-
and services in yuan. tunities, and the Chinese yuan as an instrument
On the state level too, Russian authorities can allow us to get liquidity, especially against the
are reportedly preparing to invest $70bn into background of the Western market shutdown,"
buying yuan and other "friendly" currencies. Alexey Oferkin of Gazprombank commented as
The Finance Ministry is considering placing cited by Vedomosti.
yuan-denominated bonds after placements by Analysts surveyed by Vedomosti believe that
United Company Rusal aluminium major and Rosneft will be able to offer a lower yield on its
gold major Polyus Gold. CNY bonds than those of Rusal or Polyus, and
Rosneft’s placement planned for September anticipate high demand for the issue. ™

Equinor finishes exit from Russia

NORWAY NORWAY’S Equinor has completed its with- however, leading the company to book a $1.1bn
drawal from Russia’s oil industry with the sale of impairment charge in its first-quarter results this
Russian authorities are its entire holding in the Kharyaga oil project in year.
reportedly preparing the country’s far north. Equinor is the first Western oil major to
to invest $70bn into Equinor announced in May it had transferred successfully leave Russia, even though most of
buying yuan and other shares in four joint ventures in Eastern and its peers have committed to the same course of
"friendly" countries. Western Siberia to its state-owned partner Ros- action. Its exposure to the country was small,
neft, with disclosing terms. It also said at the time compared to those of BP, ExxonMobil, Shell
it had signed an agreement to sell its 30% interest and TotalEnergies. BP has a minority stake in
in the Kharyaga production-sharing agreement Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft, while
(PSA), operated by state-owned Zarubezhneft. ExxonMobil is partnered with Rosneft at the
Equinor has been a partner at Zharyaga since Sakhalin-1 project, Shell with Gazprom and
1996 and netted around 25,000 barrels of oil Gazprom Neft respectively at the Sakhalin-2 and
equivalent per day (boepd) from the project at Salym Petroleum projects, while TotalEnergies
the end of last year. In a statement on September is involved in Novatek’s Yamal LNG and Arctic
2, Equinor also said it had covered the decom- LNG-2 developments. ™
missioning liabilities accrued and owed over the
years of the project’s operation, while in compli-
ance with Western sanctions.
The completion of the sale draws a line under
a six-month process that began just after Russia
launched its invasion of Ukraine, at which point
Equinor said that its position in Russia had
become “untenable.” It now has no more assets
left in the country.
The departure has come at a significant cost,

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 09•September•2022