MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - BP will comply with any sanctions against Russia that may affect the company, BP Spokesperson Toby Odone told RIA Novosti Thursday.
“I am not going to speculate on the sanctions. We will study them and comply with any that are applicable,” he said.
The statement followed a report by Bloomberg citing three anonymous sources, who all said BP, as well as Texas Exxon Mobil may be affected by the new round of the European Union sanctions against Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis. The limitations go into force on Friday.
The fresh round of sanctions targets Russia’s energy sector and prohibits “certain services necessary for deep water oil exploration and production, arctic oil exploration or production and shale oil projects in Russia” from being supplied, according to the European Council statement published Thursday.
The banned services include drilling, well testing or logging services.
BP is not involved in the Arctic oil exploration directly. However, Russian Investments Limited owns a 19.75-percent stake in Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft, which has set the Arctic exploration as one of its priorities for the news few years.
“We are not involved in Russia’s Arctic. As for the rest we will look at any future sanctions announcements and of course we will comply with applicable sanctions,” Odone said.
In May, the heads of BP Russia and Rosneft signed an agreement for the Domanik shale development in Russia. According to the agreement on the joint venture company, where Rosneft holds 51 percent, and BP has 49 percent, BP is to provide carry financing of up to $300 million.
BP’s spokesperson did not say whether the field will be affected by the new sanctions or whether the company will suffer losses from them.
The new restrictions also affect 24 people and ban exports of dual use goods and technology for military use for nine more Russian mixed defense companies.
Since Crimea reunited with Russia in March, the United States and the European Union have introduced several rounds of targeted sanctions against Russia's economic, defense and energy sectors, as well as dozens government officials, accusing Moscow for meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.
