Oil giant allays Germany concerns as Russia-west tensions grow

Germany should not fear that supplies of energy resources from Russia might be disrupted amid a rift between Moscow and the West over events in Ukraine, the head of the Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft told the German Der Spiegel magazine on Sunday.
“Rosneft and other Russian enterprises act strictly in line with the earlier signed contracts,” Igor Sechin said.
He called the West’s sanctions against Russia over Ukraine “a kind of a war,” and said the company could achieve its investment goals even in the current conditions.
Sechin said India and China needed Russian energy resources. “With that in view, the desire to isolate Russia looks unrealistic,” he added.
Western sanctions imposed on Rosneft over events in Ukraine are not very sensitive for the company which can operate for another 20 years on its current resources, Sechin said.
“As for technologies hit by the sanctions, they are first of all connected with long term oriented hard to recover reserves. This position is not that sensitive,” said the president of the state oil giant.
He said sanctions against him and against his company were absolutely unjustified and illegal from the point of view of international law.
Rosneft is an international public company with shareholders from the US, Europe and Asia, Sechin said. BP is its biggest after the state shareholder owing almost 20% of Rosneft, he added.