NEW YORK, March 26. /TASS/. The world’s top energy traders admit returning to Russia for business if sanctions were fully lifted, although some express caution about the prospect happening any time soon, Bloomberg reported.
"If sanctions are eased in a way that we can go back in, why wouldn’t we? It’s our job," Gunvor Group CEO Torbjorn Tornqvist said in an interview with the agency. There are some "gray zones" for cooperation with Russia now, though the company prefers to refrain from it, he added.
Those comments were made by participants of the FT Commodities Global Summit being held in Switzerland on March 24-26, the agency said. The summit is taking place amid the recent talks between Russia and the US, at which the parties reached an agreement to provide for the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, which includes ensuring safe navigation, as well as to develop measures to ban strikes against Russian and Ukrainian energy facilities for 30 days starting on March 18. Those agreements between Moscow and Washington on the Black Sea will come into force following the removal of sanctions imposed on Rosselkhozbank (Russian Agricultural Bank) and other financial institutions involved in ensuring international food trade, the Kremlin said earlier.
"I think if the sanctions are lifted we would go back to Russia and see if we have a role to play in the commodities sector. As a company we are bit more shy when it comes to sanctions, but if sanctions were lifted we would absolutely consider if we could bring value and go back," Mercuria Energy Trading CEO Marco Dunand was quoted as saying.
However, the trading house executives warned that both the process of reaching a peace deal, and the return of Russian commodities after that, could take longer than markets are anticipating. In particular, Trafigura Group CEO Richard Holtum said that his company’s large cohort of British employees would complicate a return if US sanctions were lifted while other restrictions remained. "You would need to see a wholesale winding back of all the sanctions before it’s something that could even be considered," he said.
Russell Hardy of Vitol Group thinks that the removal of sanctions could take "a year or two." "So there isn’t any anxiousness inside of the organization about being ready or preparing for it. But clearly I could be wrong and it could be quicker than anticipated," he said.