Rosneft Projects in Venezuela Unaffected by Opposition Election Victory

All of Russian energy company Rosneft's projects in Venezuela remain in force irrespective of the results of the recent parliamentary election and have a strategic and long-term character, the company's Vice President Mikhail Leontyev told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Venezuela’s Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) opposition coalition won 99 of the 167 seats in the national parliament after its victory in the Sunday election, defeating President Nicolas Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which secured 46 seats. Until the election, the socialist pro-presidential party had been in power for 16 years, since then-President Hugo Chavez launched his leftist social movement, the Bolivarian Revolution.

"Our work in Venezuela is long-term and strategic and this is obvious, since we are talking about one of the most promising regions in terms of oil reserves and the world's largest oil company," Leontyev said.

He added that the company's projects did not depend on the political situation as they were "based on legally impeccable contracts and commercial law" and called media reports on the evacuation of Rosneft staff from Venezuela following Sunday's election "a cheap provocation".

"During 16 years [of cooperation with Venezuela] there have been 19 elections, and if we had stopped work after each of them we could not have worked anywhere," he said.

The official added that Venezuela is going through "a difficult situation, like many other oil producing countries, but these difficulties do not depend on the political conditions."

Rosneft and Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA are actively cooperating on five major joint projects — PetroMonagas, Petroperija, Boqueron, Petrovictoria and PetroMiranda.

According to PDVSA head Eulogio Del Pino, Rosneft's investments in joint projects with the Venezuelan oil and natural gas company could reach $1.2-$1.3 billion in 2015.