Rosneft has opened the first stage of its $118 billion Vostok Oil project in the Russian Arctic, including a new pipeline and export terminal. An investigation by RFE/RL's Systema unit and the NGO Arctida found that successor firms to Western oil-service companies, plus a web of Kremlin-linked contractors, kept the project moving despite sanctions.
Pipeline opens on the Taimyr Peninsula
Rosneft launched the first stage of Vostok Oil, including a 790-kilometer pipeline carrying crude to the new Bukhta Sever Arctic terminal. Speaking by video link to Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin at the September 5 opening ceremony, President Vladimir Putin called it a "momentous event" for the Arctic region and for Russia. The 10-trillion-ruble ($118 billion) project is central to the Kremlin's push to hold onto Arctic presence as reserves elsewhere in Russia decline.
Western oil-service successors keep working
After 2022, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Schlumberger, and Weatherford scaled back or exited Russia. But the investigation found their successors stayed involved. Halliburton's successor, Burservis, received Vostok Oil contracts worth over 8 billion rubles ($95 million) from late 2023 to spring 2026.
Weatherford's Russian subsidiary received three payments totaling 58 million rubles ($688,000) for well work between May 2022 and February 2023, then transferred 8 million rubles ($94,700) to Vostok Oil under a March 2026 contract. SLB affiliate Bashneftegeofizika, in which a Netherlands-based SLB unit holds more than 20%, received nearly 13 billion rubles ($154 million) from Vostok Oil between 2021 and 2025.
The US Treasury sanctioned the Rosneft-affiliated Vostok Oil operator in January 2025 and banned US companies from providing oil services in Russia weeks later.
A Kremlin-linked contractor web
The investigation also traces contracts to sanctioned billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky and to Taimyr Invest, a logistics firm partly owned by Marat Kabayev, father of Alina Kabayeva. Kabayev acquired a 25% stake in Taimyr Invest in early 2026. Vostok Oil paid Taimyr Invest less than 200 million rubles ($2.4 million) from 2024 to 2026, but court documents indicate Sinarastroikomplekt, Vostok Oil's general contractor, is a key client of Taimyr Invest. Tax audits covering 2024-25 left Taimyr Invest facing an additional 3 billion rubles ($35.5 million) in taxes and a 800-million-ruble ($9.5 million) penalty, which it is challenging in court.
Rosneft's Arctic terminal is open. The network that built it is still being untangled.
Source: Oilprice.com
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