NOTE: Please do not donate to any fund that change.org asks you to donate to in relation to this petition, because I have not set up any fund associated with this petition. If you have already donated, I recommend asking your credit card company to cancel that charge.

Update (March 2nd, 2022):

The specific demands of this petition have now been met, because BP, Shell, and Exxon have all now announced plans to completely withdraw from Russia [11]. This is a significant step that these companies have taken, and we are grateful for the message they sent to Putin that his invasion of Ukraine is unacceptable, and that they will no longer take part in business activities that provide funding for Putin's regime.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's battle against the invading Russian forces rages on. Intense fights are taking place for control of cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mariupol, and others [12]. The secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council also said recently that an assassination attempt against Ukraine's President Zelensky was recently thwarted [13]. Now seems to be a critical time for the world to continue standing with Ukraine and calling for an end to Putin's war of aggression.

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Update (March 1st, 2022):

Two of the petition's initial demands have now been achieved, since BP divested from Rosneft and its oil and gas projects in Russia, and since Shell has also decided to exit all its join ventures with Gazprom and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline [7, 8]. But Exxon still has not yet divested from assets including a 30% stake in Sakhalin-1, which since 2005 has generated an average of  over $1.07 billion per year for the Russian government [1, 2, 8]. 

We therefore call once again on ExxonMobil Corporation to divest immediately and completely from all of its Russian assets, and we refuse to purchase gasoline from Exxon until it does so. As of today, March 1st, 2022, Ukrainians are still locked in a life-or-death battle against the invading Russian forces [9], and we demand that Exxon stop valuing its profits over their lives. Tomorrow, March 2nd, at 9:00 AM EST, Exxon CEO Darren Woods is scheduled to give an annual strategy presentation to investors [10]. We are calling on Darren Woods to announce Exxon's divestment from all of its oil and natural gas projects in Russia, including the Sakhalin-1 project.

One concern that some may raise is that Exxon employs over 1,000 people in Russia, so its withdrawal would hurt working-class people in addition to Russia's ruling elites [3]. But Ukraine is currently facing dire circumstances, and unless drastic action is taken now there may be no Ukraine to speak of. In 2014, Putin illegally seized Crimea from Ukraine, and then-CEO of Exxon Rex Tillerson said, "We don't take sides in any geopolitical events" [9]. That prioritization of profits above people and international law is how the world got into this current situation, and it is imperative that we act now to stop Putin from abusing Ukraine's sovereignty with impunity.

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Original text of the petition from February 26th:

On February 24th, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. As of today, February 27th, the Ukrainian military and people are still desperately defending themselves against the attack. The Russian military and government is bankrolled by profits from oil and natural gas projects financed largely by BP, Shell, and Exxon Mobil [1]. BP owns a 19.75% stake in Russia's second-largest state oil company, Rosneft, as well as a 20% stake in the Taas-Yuryakh oil project and a 49% stake in the Yermak Neftegaz project; Shell owns a 27.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 project and a 9.1% stake in the Nord Stream 2 project; and ExxonMobil owns a 30% stake in the Sakhalin-1 project, which has generated $18.3 billion in payments to Russian federal and regional governments since its inception [1, 2, 3].

We hereby call on BP, Shell, and Exxon to divest from all Russian state-owned enterprises and all Russian oil and natural gas projects in which they are currently involved. Specifically, we ask that:

• BP divest completely and immediately from Rosneft, the Taas-Yuryakh oil project, and the Yermak Neftegaz project,
• Shell divest completely and immediately from the Sakhalin-2 and Nord Stream 2 projects, and
• Exxon divest completely and immediately from the Sakhalin-1 project.

Furthermore, we refuse to purchase gas or any other product from these companies until they divest completely from their assets in Russia. We refuse to purchase from BP until it divests from Rosneft, Taas-Yuryakh, and Yermak-Neftegaz. We refuse to purchase from Shell until it divests from the Sakhalin-2 and Nord Stream 2 projects. And we refuse to purchase from Exxon until it divests completely from the Sakhalin-1 project.

Ukrainians are still fighting on the streets of Kyiv and across the country, and it remains to be seen whether they will be able to prevail against the invading Russian army. But we must do everything we can to help them and to ensure that Putin and those supporting him face consequences for their actions.

References:

[1] Thompson, Mark. "How Exxon, BP and Shell help Russia pump oil and gas." CNN Business. February 24th, 2022. Accessed February 26th, 2022. <https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/business/exxon-bp-shell-russia-oil/index.html#:~:text=The%20UK%2Dbased%20company's%20biggest,MITSY)%20and%20Mitsubishi%20of%20Japan.>.

[2] "Sakhalin-1 Oil and Gas Project." NS Energy. Accessed February 26th, 2022. <https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/sakhalin-1-oil-and-gas-project/>.

[3] "Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Project." NS Energy. Accessed February 26th, 2022. <https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/projects/nord-stream-2-pipeline-project-russia-germany/>.

[4] Valinksy, Jordan. "These companies have the most to lose from Russia's attack on Ukraine." CNN Business. February 25th, 2022. Accessed February 26th, 2022. <https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/investing/business-russia-sanctions/index.html>.

[5] "List of companies in Russia." Wikipedia. Accessed February 26th, 2022. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_of_Russia>.

[6] Trofimov, Yaroslav. "Ukraine Forces Repel Russian Attack on Kyiv, Prepare for Next Assault." The Wall Street Journal. February 26th, 2022. Accessed February 26th, 2022. <https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-assault-on-ukraine-presses-forward-as-street-battles-rage-in-kyiv-11645864200>.

[7] "BP to exit shareholding in Rosneft amid Russia’s war on Ukraine." NS Energy. February 28th, 2022. Accessed March 1st, 2022. <https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/bp-quit-rosneft-stake-russia-ukraine-war/>.

[8] Thompson, Mark. "Shell follows BP out of Russia as oil companies abandon Putin." CNN Business. March 1st, 2022. Accessed March 1st, 2022. <https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/business/shell-russia-gazprom/index.html>.

[9] Khurshudyan, Isabelle, et al. "Moscow steps up assault on residential areas as Europe prepares for ‘largest refugee crisis this century’." The Washington Post. March 1st, 2022. Accessed March 1st, 2022. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/01/russia-ukraine-war-putin-news/>.

[10] Crowley, Kevin. "Exxon Faces Stark Choice After Rivals BP, Shell Abandon Russia." Bloomberg. February 28th, 2022. Accessed March 1st. 2022. <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-28/exxon-faces-stark-choice-after-rivals-bp-shell-abandon-russia>.

[11] Egan, Matt. "Exxon is quitting its last Russian project." CNN Business. March 1st 2022. Accessed March 2nd 2022. <https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/energy/exxon-russia-sakhalin-project-exit/index.html>.

[12] Sangal, Aditi, et al. "Live updates: Russia invades Ukraine." CNN. March 2nd 2022. Accessed March 2nd 2022. <https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-02-22/index.html>.

[13] Bella, Timothy. "Russian assassination attempt against Ukrainian President Zelensky was foiled, and unit sent to kill him was ‘destroyed,’ Ukraine says." The Washington Post. March 2nd 2022. Accessed March 2nd 2022. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/02/zelensky-russia-ukraine-assassination-attempt-foiled/>.

Photo credit: Gleb Garanich, Reuters