Austrian energy company mulls withdrawal from Russian gas field

Austrian oil company OMV has announced that it will no longer be making investments in Russia in light of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Following a meeting of its board, the partly-state owned multinational issued a statement on Saturday evening to this effect, adding that its 24.99% stake in the Yuzhno Russkoye natural gas field in Siberia would also be "strategically reviewed."
"This review comprises all options including possibilities to divest or exit." OMV took over the stake from German power plant operator Uniper in 2017 for around €1.7 billion ($1.86 billion).
OMV will have to write off some €500 million to €800 million as a result. "This non-cash value adjustment will impact the reported operating result in the first quarter of the current financial year," the company added in its statement.
In addition, a further write-down of almost €1 billion looks likely, due to OMV's partial financing of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which now appears to have little chance of going into operation.
OMV is making a value adjustment of €987 million due to the likelihood of its investment in Nord Stream 2 being unrecoverable, it said, adding that this would also burden the pre-tax result in the first quarter of the current business year.
OMV had already announced earlier this week that it was walking away from negotiations with state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom on taking a stake in another huge Russian gas field.