Malaysian national energy company Petronas said it will not make any rash decisions around its ongoing collaboration with Gazprom in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions imposed on Russia.
“We have a collaboration with Gazprom in Iraq,” Petronas chief executive officer Tengku Taufik Tengku Aziz told a media briefing yesterday, referring to Petronas’ non-operating stake in Iraq’s Badra oilfield, which produced 3.8 million tonnes of oil in 2017.
“In so far as to the position to be taken, we are taking guidance on the sanctions that are going to apply. We are not going to be rushing into any decisions here.
“We have taken into account the position and geopolitics at the country level, and that is something that we stand guided on if the policymakers take a stance,” he said.
He added that Petronas also had a joint venture (JV) with Russia’s oil and gas company Lukoil, but the group recently divested its stake in the Shah Deniz project in Kazakhstan for $2.25 billion.
“We cannot deny the fact that Russia is a key oil and gas producer. Most of Europe relies on Russian gas for its power.
“While the situation [in Ukraine] is unfortunate, I can only say that as responsible, reliable and committed energy producers, we will still serve our consumers and partners everywhere,” he said.
European oil and gas companies BP, Shell and Equinor, have all announced plans to pull out of their partnerships in Russia. While France’s TotalEnergies has said it condemns Russia for its “military aggression against Ukraine” and will not provide capital for new projects in Russia.