We analyze the investments of Western companies in Russian oil and gas giants such as Gazprom, Lukoil and Rosneft. We are investigating the shareholders of these companies, including Black Rock, Vanguard Group and others from the USA, as well as European companies. Special attention is paid to the political context and the reaction of Western investors to Russian aggression against Ukraine.
About 30 of the largest Russian oil and gas companies, such as Rosneft, Gazprom and Lukoil, were analyzed. Among their owners, many oil investors and companies were found not only from Russia’s eastern partners, but also from European and American companies.
Black Rock, a US-based asset management company, is one of the key investors in the Russian oil and gas sector. In Gazprom, they have 1.2%, which is approximately $1.285 billion according to the Financial Times as of February 2024. Black Rock has frozen its assets, but retains a stake in Russian companies. Also, according to their annual report for 2023, the company owned 61,000 shares of the Russian oil company Novatek.
The report of The Vanguard Group for October 31, 2023 shows that the company owns 1,400 shares of Russian Novatek. In January 2022, shortly before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vanguard Group and Black Rock also invested about $1.3 billion in Gazprom. As of February 2024, Vanguard Group values its 282.6 million shares at $0. In February-March 2022, Vanguard Group suspended the purchase of Russian securities.
Mercer Funds is a fund that specializes in asset management and consulting. They own shares in the Russian company Gazprom. The share of Mercer Funds is 3.8 million shares of Gazprom, valued at $113 thousand. Mercer Funds did not comment on Russian aggression against Ukraine and did not declare their intention to withdraw from the Russian market. Mercer had 169,000 shares of Rosneft as of March 31, 2023, which is approximately $6.5 thousand, and owns 18,000 shares of Novatek, valued at $3,000.
J. P. Morgan owns a stake in Rosneft. As of October 2023, the value of their assets there was estimated at $137,900. Company representatives stated that they were leaving Russia. Instead, the Russian mass media write that JP Morgan Bank International — the Russian subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase Bank — has, on the contrary, increased its assets over the past two years. As of October 2023, one of the funds of J.P. Morgan owned Gazprom shares, which they valued at $298,000. Also, one of their funds owns Lukoil shares worth $379,000.
GQG Partners, a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs, owned 0.3% of Russian Rosneft as of August 2023, owning 90,000 shares. They also have shares in Novatek. There, as of October 2023, their valuation was $195,000. They owned 0.29% of Gazprom and 277,000 shares of Tatneft. Before the full-scale invasion, they owned 62,000 shares — 0.4% of Lukoil.
Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC — on February 28, 2023, they owned 93,000 Novatek shares valued at approximately $13,000.
The American investment bank, Charles Schwab — had 127,000 Gazprom shares.
Capital Research and Management Company, a subsidiary of Capital Group Companies, Inc. — invested $210 million according to the financial aggregator. They owned 1.94% of Gazprom shares. As of December 2023, Capital Group probably owned 36.9K shares, according to their financial report.
Kopernik Global Investors LLC owned 37.05 million Gazprom shares. According to the financial aggregator FT, the company owned 37.95 million Gazprom shares as of January 2024.
As of November 2023, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned 23.93 million shares of the aforementioned Gazprom.
Fidelity Company. Christopher Tennant, one of the managers of the fund, said that the company had to write off its Russian investment in Lukoil. However, the shares remain owned by the fund de jure. According to S&P Market Intelligence, they held 2.34%. As of January 2024, several Fidelity funds stated that their total share of shares is already 0.72% (value – $34.78m).
TotalEnergies is an oil and gas company that owns approximately 19.4% of the shares of Russia’s Novatek. She actively invested in the projects of this company, such as “Arctic LNG 2”. As of March 2024, their share is estimated at $189 million. In another Novatek project, Yamal LNG, their share is 20.02% or $4.5 billion.
TotalEnergies SE does not plan to withdraw from the Yamal LNG project, but has frozen its assets in Novatek and Arctic LNG 2. In October 2022, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the company would continue to supply liquefied natural gas from Russia until sanctions were imposed. In December 2022, TotalEnergies decided to withdraw its directors from Novatek and no longer consider this package of shares as part of its equity capital. The company also noted that it cannot sell its stake due to shareholder agreements that prohibit the sale of assets to Novatek’s major sanctioned shareholders. As of December 31, 2023, TotalEnergies still owned 19.4% of shares in Novatek.
Germany has companies that are interested in the Russian oil and gas business. Analyzing open data, two German companies with shares in the Severny Potok or Nord Stream project were identified. — Wintershall Dea AG — 15.5%, and PEG Infrastruktur AG (E.ON) — 15.5%, with a reported valuation of $2.6b.
A few words about the “Nord Stream”. It includes the gas pipelines “Nord Stream 1” and “Nord Stream 2” (“Nord Stream 1” and “Nord Stream 2”, respectively).
“North Stream 1”. According to the website, as of March 2024, the five shareholders of the Nord Stream AG consortium were:
Gazprom International Projects North 1 LLC (Gazprom Group Company) – 51%;
German Wintershall Dea AG — producer of crude oil and gas – 15.5%;
PEG Infrastruktur AG (E.ON) is a German energy company – 15.5%;
N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie is a Dutch infrastructure and natural gas transportation company – 9%;
Engie SA is a French company engaged in the generation and distribution of electricity, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy and oil – 9%.
In March 2023, according to TASS, Wintershall Dea AG, PEG Infrastruktur AG and N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie wrote off its shares in Nord Stream AG. According to the annual reports for 2023, they listed their shares in Nord Stream AG.
In its annual report for 2023, Engie valued its stake in Nord Stream AG at zero (€90 million as of December 31, 2022).
Nord Stream 2 was a project in which Gazprom was a shareholder. As of February 2022, financial investors were:
In February 2022, Germany terminated the certification of “Nord Stream-2” due to Russia’s recognition of “LDNR”. On March 1, 2022, Nord Stream 2 AG declared bankruptcy and laid off 106 employees. In December 2022, a Swiss court granted the company a six-month bankruptcy extension.
In March 2022, Wintershall DEA wrote off $1.1 billion in investments in Nord Stream 2, but continued to participate in gas projects in Siberia. In January 2023, the company announced its exit from the Russian market, which should end in 2024.
BP Russian Investments Limited (owned by British Petroleum) owns 19.75% of Rosneft shares as of February 2023. They announced their withdrawal from investors in February 2022, but have not yet sold shares. Ihor Sechin reported that BP remains a shareholder and received $700 million in dividends for the second half of 2021.
Abrdn Investments had 1.5 million Novatek shares as of September 2023.
Eurizon Fund is an investment division of the Intesa Sanpaolo group. They own shares in major Russian companies such as Gazprom, Rosneft and Lukoil. In their annual report for 2022, it is stated that they own 97,100 Novatek shares worth $21,000, 1.2 million Gazprom shares (worth $3.3 million), 43,900 Lukoil shares ($2.8 million) and 769 thousand shares of “Surgutneftegaz” (preferred shares for $360 thousand and ordinary shares for $328.4 thousand).
Fideuram Asset Management through Fonditalia Fund owns 58,700 Novatek shares worth $11,000.
Japan Arctic LNG owns 10% in the Arctic LNG 2 project for $189 million (as of March 2024). Sakhalin Oil & Gas Development Co owns 30% of Sakhalin-1. The Sakhalin-2 project is divided between Mitsui & Co. (12.5%) and a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation — DGS Japan Co., Ltd. (10%).
Glencore plc owns 19.5% of Rosneft. The $11 billion deal signed in December 2016 provided for an equal split between Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority. However, Glencore claimed ownership of only 0.57% of the shares. In March 2022, Glencore announced that it had not purchased any new shares in Rosneft, but would retain its stake until December 2023. Rambero Holding, a subsidiary of Glencore, has a 31.28% stake in RussNeft as of January 2024.
CNPC has 10% in the Arctic LNG 2 project and 20% in the Yamal LNG project. CNOOC owns 10% of Arctic LNG 2. Silk Road Fund has 9.9% in Yamal LNG.
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