Thought leadership: BP Global CEO Bernard Looney shares his views on Russian exit

‘India will be the centre of learning for the world’, he said!

As the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine is getting worse day by day, large multinational companies are taking big steps of exiting operations from Russia to show their opposition to the whole war situation. One such company is The British Petroleum Company plc (BP), which is considered as world’s one of the seven oil & gas supermajors. BP Global CEO, Bernard Looney expressed his views on exit from Russia in his first visit to India since assuming office in 2020.

BP’s board had discontinued its business operations within 96 hours of the first invasion by Russia. It was one of the first companies to exit. The company simply did not think it was the ideal environment to continue its operations. BP used to carry its business through Rosneft, which is one of the largest oil & gas companies in Russia. It held a 19.75% stake in the company and had a long-standing relationship of over three decades. BP had given up this stake in Rosneft which was considered one of the most significant moves from a western company.

Talking about the oil prices currently, he feels the word volatile best suits to describe the situation. As numerous factors such as EU regulations, Russian sanctions, US Shale response, the situation in Iran, and many others are at play, it's better not to predict prices since the volatility can be expected for the short to medium term.

He also mentioned BP’s operations in India and he feels India presents huge opportunities for growth in key areas. The energy transition in the country has seen great progress which will be great learning for other nations too. He is indeed very excited about the green hydrogen plans, solar energy and other renewables energy space that India is progressing towards. BP has had a strong relationship with Reliance Industries and Looney says that they will continue to work with Reliance to explore opportunities in India.