US oil group expands in Russia as Western rivals leave, FT reports

The Texas-based oilfield services company SLB is expanding its operations in Russia, filling the vacancy left by Western competitors, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Aug. 15.  
SLB, previously known as Schlumberger, is the world’s largest offshore drilling company. It continued to operate in Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, even as other oil giants left the country.
SLB’s Russian subsidiary signed new contracts and posted over 1,000 job postings within the last year, the FT reports.
The nonprofit organization Global Witness obtained documents, seen by the FT, that show SLB in December 2023 entered into a contract with Vnigni, a Russian state-funded institution that conducts geological research for fossil fuel production.
The company has advertised over 1,000 new jobs in Russia since December 2023. Open positions include drivers, chemists, and geologists.
Russian corporate databases also show that SLB registered two new trademarks in July 2024.
SLB announced in July 2023 that it would immediately stop all shipments of products and technology from its facilities into Russia in response to growing sanctions on the Russian oil industry. In their announcement, SLB joined “the international community in condemning and calling for an end to the war in Ukraine.”
Russian customs filings show that while SLB did stop importing supplies from its facilities abroad, it continued to import products and technology from other sources. Of $17.5 million in equipment shipped between August and December 2023, $2.2 million was declared to have originally been manufactured by SLB.
Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has labeled SLB an “international sponsor of war” for its continued business in Russia.
The Russian fossil fuel industry is a primary economic driver of Moscow’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Ukraine has made a concerted effort to target Russian oil production with long-range drone strikes.