More than six months after their initial imposition by North American and European nations in response to the Ukraine crisis, the way the measures have hit home is highly uneven with many Russian companies virtually unaffected.
In energy, for example, sanctions on the export of equipment and services involving deepwater drilling, shale development and offshore Arctic fields deny western companies the opportunities to profit from their unique technology. It’s having very little effect on day-to-day operations for Russian producers though and oil output remains close to a post-Soviet high above 10 million barrels a day.
What’s proving more significant are the limits on state oil company OAO Rosneft from accessing U.S. capital markets. A measure that’s made almost all U.S. and European banks leery of Russia’s entire oil and gas sector .... http://www.bloomberg.com
