London, 08 August, 2023, (Oilandgaspress) : Europe’s biggest companies have suffered at least €100 billion in direct losses from their operations in Russia since President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
According to a report obtained from Financial Times,a survey of 600 European groups’ annual reports and 2023 financial statements shows that 176 companies have recorded asset impairments, foreign exchange-related charges, and other one-off expenses as a result of the sale, closure, or reduction of Russian businesses.
The aggregate figure does not include the war’s indirect macroeconomic impacts such as higher energy and commodities costs. The war has also delivered a profit boost for oil and gas groups and defense companies. BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies — reported combined charges of €40.6 billion.
According to the report, BP reported a $25.5 billion charge, announcing three days after the invasion that it would sell its 19.75% stake in state-owned oil group Rosneft.
It took TotalEnergies longer to report a total cost of $14.8 billion. The French energy group has yet to write down its 20% stake in the Yamal LNG project. Shell took a $4.1 billion charge, while Norwegian oil and gas group Equinor and Austria’s OMV have reported €1 billion and €2.5 billion respectively.
German group Wintershall Dea in January said the Kremlin’s expropriation of its Russia business had wiped €2 billion of cash from its bank accounts. In turn, Wintershall’s owner BASF wrote down its stake in the energy explorer by €6.5 billion.
Uniper, which was bailed out by the German state last year, booked €5.7 billion in impairments, while Finland’s Fortum took a €5.3 billion hit.
Eleven carmakers took a combined €6.4 billion in charges. Renault wrote off €2.3 billion after selling its Moscow plant and the stake in Russia’s Avtovaz in May 2022.
Volkswagen reported a €2 billion write-down and in May Moscow approved the sale of VW’s local assets, including a plant employing 4,000 people, which were still valued at Rbs111.3 billion (€1.5 billion) last year, according to company disclosures.
