Russia will be difficult to overcome the loss of Western technologies and capital and maintain oil production at the same level. This was in an interview with The Wall Street Journal was stated by the head of the American energy company Chevron Michael Virt.
In confirmation of his words, he drew attention to the situation in Iran and Venezuela. “If you look at Iran and Venezuela, two other examples of large manufacturers who fell under sanctions and were cut off from the same types of investments and technologies, then their production capacities will degrade over time,” Virta quotes quotes.
At the same time, Wirth admitted that so far Moscow manages to find buyers for most of the oil produced in the country, despite the closure of the American and European sales markets.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States and Great Britain completely banned the import of Russian oil and gas. At the end of May, the European Union announced a partial embargo on Russian oil: the ban on the import of raw materials will enter into force six months later, and oil refining products later. Deliveries for the Druzhba pipeline did not fall under restrictions. The EU also imposed sanctions against the largest oil companies in Russia – Rosneft, Gazprom Neft and Transneft. In addition, the European authorities banned the supply of equipment for oil refining to the country.