Norwegian energy company Equinor announced Monday (28) that it will exit its new investments in Russia and begin the process of withdrawing from its Russian joint ventures following the attacks on Ukraine.

The decision follows British oil company BP's announcement the previous day that it would also discontinue its nearly 20% stake in Russian oil company Rosneft.

Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said that the group is very concerned about the invasion in Ukraine.

"In the current situation, we consider our position untenable," he wrote on Twitter.

Equinor pointed out that it has been in Russia for more than 30 years, with a cooperation agreement concluded with the Russian oil company Rosneft in 2012. The Norwegian company has about 70 employees in the country, where it produces about 25,000 barrels of oil per day.

At the end of 2021, Equinor had $1.2 billion in non-current assets in Russia.

"We expect that the decision to start the process of exiting joint ventures in Russia will affect the book value of Equinor's Russian assets and lead to losses," the company stressed.

In the statement, Equinor said it maintains close contact with authorities in Norway, the European Union, the United States and other countries and will continue to comply with any new sanctions relevant to its operations.