Weatherford expands Russia business despite sanctions - FT

[Jackup Offshore Oil Rig]
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Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/WFRD]) has expanded its business in Russia despite U.S. and European Union sanctions on the country's energy industry, the _Financial Times_ reported Thursday.

In this year's H1, Weatherford's (NASDAQ:WFRD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/WFRD]) revenues from its Russian operations rose to 7% of the $2.4B total from 5% of the total for last year's H1, and the oilfield service provider generated $332M in cash and assets in Russia as of June 30, compared to $233M a year earlier, according to the report [https://www.ft.com/content/19f61bbf-f2e9-4cd0-9400-3801dd8c05c9].

Weatherford (WFRD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/WFRD]) reportedly also has posted ~100 job openings for its Russian business since late February, when U.S. sanctions went into effect.

The company itself reported in its Q2 results [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4470343-weatherford-international-gaap-eps-of-187-revenue-of-12b] that higher drilling activity in Russia had offset lower activity in North America and Latin America, while well construction activity in Russia fell during the second quarter, as it did in North America.

Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center senior fellow Sergey Vakulenko told _FT_ that Weatherford (WFRD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/WFRD]) and SLB - the other U.S. oilfield services firm that still operates in Russia - likely restructured their Russian operations to avoid breach of sanctions by effectively ring-fencing them from the rest of the business.

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