Lukoil not feeling tensions from worsening geopolitical situation, new U.S. sanctions
MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax) - Lukoil is not feeling tensions from the worsening geopolitical situation and the introduction of new U.S. sanctions against Russia, company chief Vagit Alekperov said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya 24.
"We are in contact with our partners, we are not feeling any tensions as Lukoil is an international company. We have joint ventures with major global energy companies: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Total, Eni, they are all our partners in some part of the world, for some joint projects," he said.
"We are therefore not feeling tensions, we are continuing to actively invest both in Russia; today a new platform is being installed in the Northern Caspian, we are conducting exploration work in the Gulf of Mexico and Western Africa," Alekperov said.
"All of this contributes to the one theme of supplying the world population with energy in the amount necessary at a price which is acceptable for our consumer," he said.
As reported, in January 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in implementing the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), published the so called "Kremlin list." The part of the list dedicated to big business duplicated the Russia segment of the Forbes magazine list of the world's billionaires.
In the beginning of April, Oleg Deripaska, Viktor Vekselberg, Suleiman Kerimov, Surgutneftegas CEO Vladimir Bogdanov, State Duma member Andrei Skoch, VTB Bank President and Chairman of the Board Andrei Kostin, Gazprombank Chairman of the Board Andrei Akimov, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, as well as Igor Rotenberg and Kirill Shamalov were included in the (Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which envisages the freezing of all U.S. assets and prohibition of business transactions in the U.S.
Companies controlled by Oleg Deripaska dominate among legal entities added to the sanctions list, with Rusal and En+ joined by the GAZ Group , the Kuban agriholding, Basic Element, B-Finance, Eurosibenergo and Russian Machines. Viktor Vekselberg's Renova Group, Igor Rotenberg's Gazprom Bureniye and NPV Engineering, Kirill Shamalov's Ladoga Management and RFK Bank, which is wholly owned by sanctioned arms trader Rosoboronexport, were also included on the sanctions list.