BP reaffirms commitment to Russia business despite Ukraine border tensions

BP reiterated its commitment to its Russian oil and gas business despite rising tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine, said chief executive Bernard Looney on Monday.

There have been fears among investors that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would spark severe economic sanctions, leading to supply constraints from the commodity-rich nation. Oil prices surged overnight as stock markets fell.

BP is the largest foreign investor in Russia and holds 19.75% of the country's national oil company Rosneft. It also holds stake in several other oil and gas projects in the country.

"Quite frankly, there is no impact on our ongoing operations in Russia and we are sticking to the business," Looney said at a conference in Cairo, adding that BP would comply with any western sanctions on Moscow, the Reuters news agency reported.

In BP’s latest set of annual results released last week, Rosneft contributed $2.7bn in underlying profit to BP’s bottom line, up from just $56m the year before, or just over 21% of its bumper $12.8bn annual profit reported last week.

Looney said at the time the Rosneft partnership alliance remains in place despite the fresh threat of sanctions against Russia by the EU and the US as the Kremlin flexes its military muscle on the border with Ukraine.