Oilfield services group SLB resists rising pressure to exit Russia

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Oil services giant SLB is resisting growing pressure to pull out of Russia, telling investors its operations do not violate sweeping new sanctions on the country’s oil sector.

SLB:formerly known as Schlumberger, said on Friday it was reviewing tough rules passed by the Biden administration last week to ban U.S. oil services in Russia , that the company’s operations are currently “compliant with the new sanctions.”

The Houston-headquartered company added that the contribution of its Russian operations fell to 4 percent of its global revenue in 2024, or about $1.4 billion, from 5 percent a year earlier.

SLB is under renewed pressure from US lawmakers to pull out of Russia after new sanctions aimed at stemming the flow of petrodollars used to fund the Kremlin. war in Ukraine. In October, a bipartisan group of more than 50 members of Congress wrote to the Biden administration demanding tougher sanctions on U.S.-based oilfield services companies in an effort to force SLB out of the country.

SLB is among several countries operating in the US oil companies still operating in the country after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The company’s two biggest Western rivals, Baker Hughes and Halliburton, sold their Russian operations to local managers in 2022.

Le Peuch told analysts that SLB has taken voluntary measures to limit its Russian activities, including ending shipments of goods and technology to the country from all SLB facilities worldwide in 2023.

“We are reviewing the new sanctions and at this time we believe that our voluntary measures are consistent with the new sanctions,” he added.

A Financial Times investigation last year found that SLB had signed new contracts, advertised for more than 1,000 jobs and imported equipment into Russia as its rivals left the country.

Petroleum service providers perform less glamorous work for the global oil and gas industry, from building roads and laying pipelines to drilling and pumping crude oil, but they also provide access to sophisticated technologies that are vital to the exploration and development of complex drilling operations for

Oil industry experts say SLB is reluctant to leave Russia because the Kremlin is likely to be rewarded with contracts once the war against Ukraine ends and Western sanctions are lifted.

Human rights groups and the Ukrainian government allege that SLB’s work in Russia helps generate billions of dollars in oil revenue to support the Kremlin’s war effort.Last year, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Agency added SLB to its “international war sponsor” list.