Tatneft CEO: Western businesses will suffer from embargo on Russian oil

Tatneft CEO Nail Maganov doesn’t rule out that the West can impose a total oil and gas embargo on imports from Russia. According to him, Western partners themselves will suffer from this.

“Today we see a number of decisions our former partners, Western partners, make trying to restrict themselves, and at the same time they are seriously suffering themselves,” claimed Maganov. He reminded the audience that 200 out of 600 million tonnes of Russian oil exports went to Western countries.

According to Maganov, European and American entrepreneurs are shocked with the authorities’ decisions regarding Russian energy.

“Businesses in the West are as shocked as we are,” said the head of Tatneft.

According to his forecast, a decrease in Russian oil and gas exports shouldn’t have a negative impact on the country. Russia still manages to keep the positive foreign trade balance.

“I don’t think that a decrease in our exports will be so catastrophic for our country because we ourselves consumed a lot,” TASS cites Maganov.

After the beginning of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the West started to refuse Russian energy. Russian Vice Premier Alexander Novak claimed that the country is ready for this.

“If you want to refuse energy supplies from Russia, please, we are ready for this. We understand where we can redirect these volumes. Only a question arises: who benefits from this? And why is it necessary? Attempts of initiating a discussion about the ban on imports undermine the foundations of the market, create uncertainties and lead to a significant damage for consumers,” he warned.

Novak claimed that the refusal from Russian oil will “lead to catastrophic consequences for the world market.” He forecasted that oil price might go above $300 per barrel.

In late March, Novak said that gas and oil are produced at full capacity in Russia despite the sanctions pressure. The decisions of the USA and Britain to refuse supplies of Russian oil and oil products influenced this process insignificantly, he added.