Rosneft found those responsible for the energy crisis – Business – Kommersant
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The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, speaking at the Eurasian Forum, held this time in Baku, accused Western countries of the energy crisis. Among the reasons for the shortage of oil and the rise in price of raw materials, he singled out the climate policy of the EU and anti-Russian sanctions, the military actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, in his opinion, do not matter. Mr. Sechin reproached the largest foreign shareholder of Rosneft, the British BP, which on February 27 announced its intention to terminate cooperation with Rosneft, of an “obsessive desire” to get rid of its stake in the Russian oil company. At the same time, he called such attempts “strange”, since they were not coordinated with the authorities of the Russian Federation.
The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, blamed the green transition and anti-Russian sanctions for maintaining high oil prices and the deficit. On October 27, he presented his annual report at the Eurasian Forum, which this year moved from Italian Verona to Baku. “The sources of the current artificially created energy crisis are not in the events in Ukraine and not in the pandemic, but in the colossal underinvestment in the industry, one of the reasons for which is the irresponsible and adventurous policy of accelerated green transition. And in further anti-Russian sanctions as a powerful additional catalyst for the energy crisis and inflation in general,” he said.
He reproached the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who “says, as they say, from the bottom of her heart”: “The cause of the energy crisis is not the rise in the price of hydrocarbons, but the very fact of their use.”
In other words, Igor Sechin interprets the words of the European politician, the cause of the crisis is the very fact that energy resources are needed for the life of the population and industry.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, against the backdrop of sanctions, European buyers began to refuse oil from the Russian Federation, and from December 5, the EU embargo on Russian raw materials comes into force. Since May 15, Rosneft itself located under blocking EU sanctions.
At the same time, climate policy, despite the energy crisis, is forcing European majors to reduce investments, he noted: “Shell announced the complete cessation of exploration in new basins by 2025, and Eni intends to increase the share of gas in production to 60% in 2030 and to 90% by 2040, reducing oil production.” In this context, the head of Rosneft reproached his largest foreign shareholder, the British BP.
According to Mr. Sechin, BP positioned itself as the leader of the green transformation, but “drastically changed its approach”, declaring a return of interest in production both in the US shale fields and on the North Sea shelf, and has already started offshore investments in Allirgin projects and Worlich, he recalled.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, BP, which owns 19.75% in Rosneft, announced about their intention to sell their stake in the company and withdraw from all joint projects, top managers of BP also left the board of directors of Rosneft. However, all transactions involving the exit of foreign shareholders from Russian companies must be approved by the Russian government.
“Despite all the rhetoric, (BP.— “b”) continues to be, I would say, a shadow shareholder… I would like to notify our friends from BP that the dividends due to them for the second half of 2021 in the amount of $700 million have been transferred to the accounts opened for them,” Mr. Sechin said. According to him, despite the lack of financing from BP, Rosneft launched the Kharampur gas project on schedule, which allowed the company to increase production by 11 billion cubic meters per year. He also spoke of BP’s “obsessive desire to sell the Rosneft stake”, but “has to upset colleagues from BP”: “The current practice of selling the assets of sanctioned companies in Russia shows that transactions are non-market in nature, which, however, is a consequence of the destruction of the market, in which there is also the contribution of BP itself. According to Igor Sechin, BP’s attempts to sell its stake in Rosneft to a new strategic investor on their own, without the necessary approvals from the Russian government, look “strange”.
He also recalled as a “consolation” that BP’s income from participation in Rosneft and the joint venture amounted to $37 billion with investments of $10 billion, which is “excellent compensation for invested capital.”
Against the general background, Mr. Sechin respects Saudi Arabia’s “reasonable” and “supply and demand analysis” energy policy for oil.
He also praised the position of the Chinese leadership, which “calmly and openly, without false premises, sets out its positions even on the most difficult issues, such as the problem of Taiwan,” Sechin said. In his opinion, the US efforts to accelerate its microchip program indicate that “Taiwan’s return to home harbor” is “on schedule.”
Russia, in his opinion, needs to focus on the countries of Southeast and Central Asia, Latin America and Africa. Rosneft’s future Vostok Oil project, which, according to Igor Sechin, is being implemented “within the previously announced schedule”, will be able to meet “any growing needs” of these markets, and Rosneft will be glad to see “friends, including (Azerbaijani.— “b”) SOCAR”.
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