UPDATE 3-New York pension fund to divest some Exxon holdings

(Adds context and reaction from environmental groups)

By Seher Dareen and Ross Kerber

Feb 15 (Reuters) - The New York State Common Retirement Fund will restrict its investments in eight integrated oil and gas companies, including the divestment of a small share of its holdings in Exxon Mobil, New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who oversees retirement assets, said on Thursday.

The move follows a review of the companies' readiness to transition to a low-carbon economy, DiNapoli said in a statement.

The move amounts to a compromise measure by the third-largest U.S. state pension fund as it and other big investors face calls from environmental groups to more fully divest from fossil fuels, something few have done.

The New York State fund had holdings of nearly $26.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2023 from the companies to be divested and restricted, which include Guanghui Energy Company , Echo Energy, IOG, Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Delek Group, Dana Gas, and Unit Corp.

Those holdings were in corporate bonds and actively managed public equity, DiNapoli's office said. The fund "will continue to hold Exxon and the others that are restricted in its passive index holdings at this time," a spokesman for DiNapoli said via e-mail.

While about $25 million worth of Exxon shares will be divested, the fund's other Exxon holdings total about $500 million, spokesman Matthew Sweeney said.

"The passive strategy is fundamental to the Fund and has been successful. The review determined that removing it from the passive index would go against fiduciary duty at this time," Sweeney said.

It also will continue to own other oil majors such as Chevron, BP and Shell.. DiNapoli's office said that is partly because Exxon is the rare company without targets to cut so-called "Scope 3" emissions resulting from the use of its products.

Exxon "is ever more committed to long-term oil and gas production while their peers are committing to diversification in a variety of different ways and making greater capital investments in those transition strategies," another representative for DiNapoli said.

Exxon did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The state retirement fund had total assets of $260 billion as of Sept. 30. Beyond the restrictions, DiNapoli plans to continue to invest in areas like green infrastructure, similar to plans the top California pension plan laid out in November.

In a joint press release, several environmental groups including DivestNY and the Climate Safe Pensions Network said DiNapoli's action "misses the mark" by only partially divesting from Exxon and by continuing to own other oil majors.

"For all of the positive aspects of this plan, the scope of the divestment is too small and the pace of change does not adequately address the continued loss of value, weak responses from the companies or the urgency of the climate problem," said the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in a separate statement. (Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru and by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Elaine Hardcastle and Chris Reese)