State-owned gas giant Gazprom said Tuesday it has not been significantly affected by the imposed Western sanctions over Russia’s role in Ukraine’s crisis.
The Western sanctions have left Gazprom “largely unaffected, including with respect to the execution and extension of existing contracts and the conclusion of new contracts for gas supplies with foreign parties, and have had little bearing on the company’s ongoing activities,” Gazprom said in its statement.
The Russian company had taken a number of steps to mitigate possible negative consequences of the sanctions.
“One of the most efficient mitigation measures is Gazprom’s continuing comprehensive effort for technological independence and import substitution. The effort is meant to increase the share of domestic products in the Group’s production activities and to facilitate the development of Russian equivalents for imported equipment.”
According to Gazprom, foreign equipment currently accounts for about 5 per cent (pipes – less than 0.1 per cent) of the total procurements made by the world’s largest gas producer.
“Having imposed strict limits on the procurement of non-Russian equipment, works and services, the company seeks to diversify its imports by attracting suppliers from the Customs Union, the CIS, Asia-Pacific, BRICS, etc.,” Gazprom noted in the statement.