SLB Restricted Business in Russia
Oilfield services giant SLB has restricted business in Russia to continue operating under sanctions.
Among the measures taken by SLB to continue working in Russia under sanctions is the restriction of the supply of products and technologies produced in the US, UK, EU and Canada.
The largest oilfield services company SLB (formerly Schlumberger) has imposed restrictions on its business in Russia to keep it under sanctions, Reuters reported.
As the representative of SLB said, as international sanctions tighten, the company curtails its activities in a country that goes beyond the restrictions imposed. In particular, among the recently adopted “additional control measures” is the restriction of supplies to Russia of products and technologies manufactured in the US, UK, EU and Canada. The company also confirmed that it has closed Russian employees access to some software, internal bulletin boards and databases in the United States and Great Britain.
The new measures “ensure that our employees comply with all the sanctions that are being imposed,” a source told Reuters. The head of SLB, Olivier Le Peche, in an internal address to employees at the end of February, acknowledged that the situation was difficult, but the company does not plan to leave Russia, Reuters writes, citing an audio recording.
“We believe the best option for all stakeholders is to continue working in Russia as long as we can do so in full compliance with international sanctions,” Le Peche said. The scale of work in Russia will be reduced due to “market conditions and the measures we have taken, including the ban on new investments and the deployment of technologies,” he added.
In 2022, about 10 thousand people worked in SLB in Russia, since then their number has decreased to 9.6 thousand, writes Reuters. Last year, Russian business generated 6% of SLB’s total annual revenue of $28.1 billion, but that share has now dropped to around 5%, the agency’s source said.
Since the end of February 2022, more than 100 foreign companies have left Russia. Schlumberger continued to work, but announced that it will stop investing in local projects and suspend the deployment of technologies in enterprises.
