FX.co ★ Rosneft signs more contracts amid sanctions

Recent sanctions and the threat of next rounds of punitive measures have brought the state-run oil giant Rosneft to the forefront in terms of the number of contracts signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. According to the company’s CEO Igor Sechin, Rosneft signed more than 50 agreements on promising cooperation. On the last day of the forum Igor Sechin put his signature on more than 10 contracts in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The major ones were agreements with BP as well as with Venezuela's state oil producer PDVSA, which ushered in a new era of cooperation between the two countries in this sector. Commenting on the signing, Sechin said: “The realization of the contract will allow Rosneft to substantially increase the geography and strengthen its positions as a global leader on the oil and oil products market. This agreement represents a new phase of partnership between Rosneft and PDVSA. Following the partnership in the upstream sphere, our companies start to cooperate in the sphere of trading. I am sure we will be able to achieve great results in every Rosneft-PDVSA joint project”.

On the one hand, economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the West threw cold water on plans of some participants of the forum. Some companies even withdrew participation. On the other hand, the sanctions catalyzed activity of Russia’s other partners that could not find common ground with Russian businesses earlier. Now Russia is more willing to make some concessions.

In short, the forum was a success for Rosneft. “The results of the forum are impressive. The forum has become even more outstanding than in the previous year, at least within the energy summit. All participants arrived, both registered and the ones with whom we cooperate. Nobody quit our projects”, Igor Sechin summarized.