An American Giant in the Heart of Russia
Trade and dealings at various levels with Russia are facing restrictions in different European countries and America, and consecutive heavy sanctions have forced large and small Western businesses and companies to leave Russia.
Many companies managed to maintain some aspects of their business and activities in Russia as much as they could, but over time, even these have been forced to leave Russia and abandon their facilities and offices in many cases.
Vladimir Putin, in some cases, took action to seize the remaining assets and take over the abandoned hardware and facilities. The losses of various companies from leaving Russia may have been somewhat forgotten, but the lost opportunity is certainly not forgettable. Among these, there is an American company that is operating in Russia without any particular problem. SLB, the largest service company for extraction and transportation industries in oil fields, is actively operating in Russia with high capacity and has recently signed several important new contracts with the Russians.
Human rights watchdogs and international trade observers have identified over a thousand job listings posted by this company for work in Russia.
While it is expected that the European and American competitors of this company would complain about SLB’s unchallenged profitable presence in Russia, some major competitors have calmly assessed this period as temporary, which may not align with reality.
SLB continues its work without issues, and American regulatory bodies have explicitly stated that they have not yet detected any breach of sanction laws in the company’s operations in Russia. It’s simple: the Russians are naturally extracting oil, and Russian oil extraction is not sanctioned.
Oil field services are also a profitable activity. SLB has not transferred sensitive parts and technologies suspected of dual-use from America to Russia. The company purchases these items from other countries, and the transfer process is carried out with the knowledge of regulatory bodies.
Russia continues to extract oil and is naturally forced to sell it cheaply to the Chinese, keeping the oil price below expectations. The American company provides services, records its income in America, creates jobs, and pays taxes to the American government. Everyone wins.