Oilfield services giant SLB has resisted pressure to exit Russia, telling investors its operations do not violate sweeping new sanctions targeting the country's oil industry.
SLB, formerly known as Schlumberger, said on Friday it was reviewing strict rules enacted last week by the Biden administration that ban U.S. oil services in Russia. But CEO Olivier Le Peuch told investors on a conference call that he believed the company's operations were currently "compliant with the requirements of the new sanctions."
The Houston-based company added that its Russian operations' contribution to its global revenue will fall to 4%, or about $1.4 billion, by 2024 from 5% a year ago.
U.S. lawmakers renewed pressure on Rosneft to exit Russia after issuing new sanctions aimed at curbing the flow of petrodollars used to fund the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. In October, a bipartisan group of more than 50 members of Congress sent a letter to the Biden administration calling for tougher sanctions on U.S. oilfield services companies operating in Russia to force SLB to exit the country.
SLB is one of the few U.S. oil companies still operating in Ukraine following Moscow's full-scale invasion of the country 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 activities in Russia, including halting the shipment of products and technology to the country from all SLB facilities worldwide in 2023.
"We are reviewing the new sanctions and, at this time, we believe our voluntary measures are consistent with the new sanctions," he added.
An investigation by the Financial Times last year found that SLB had signed new contracts, hired more than 1,000 jobs and imported equipment to Russia since its rivals withdrew from the country.
Oilfield service providers perform many of the less glamorous jobs for the global oil and gas industry—from building roads and laying pipelines to drilling wells and pumping oil. But they also provide cutting-edge technology critical to supporting exploration and development of complex drilling operations.
Oil industry experts say SLB is reluctant to leave Russia because the Kremlin may offer it contractual incentives when the war in Ukraine ends and Western sanctions are lifted.
Human rights groups and the Ukrainian government claim the SLB's work in Russia helps generate billions of dollars in oil revenue to support the Kremlin's war effort. Last year, Ukraine’s State Service for the Prevention of Corruption blacklisted SLB as a “sponsor of international war.”