MOSCOW, September 30. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian oil company Rosneft is not looking for new partners to replace ExxonMobil in projects which the US company has to quit because of sanctions imposed over events in Ukraine, the Russian company’s Vice-President Mikhail Leontyev told ITAR-TASS.

ITAR-TASS reported earlier, citing ExxonMobil spokesman Alan Jeffers, that the company had left 9 out of 10 joint projects because of sanctions. These included planned work in the Black Sea, the Arctic and West Siberia.

“There is speculation that we will invite new partners to the projects. We do not consider such a possibility. We prefer to work stably, taking into account the interests of our partners,” Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said in earlier comments. “It is hard to say now what form of cooperation it will be because the sanctions are not specified in detail and depend on interpretation by third parties,” he added.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil remains in the Sakhalin-1 project, unaffected by American sanctions, an source from ExxonMobil told ITAR-TASS. The American company has a 30% share in the project and is its operator. The American company had to leave all other projects by September 26.

The United States imposed new sanctions against Russia on September 12. These targeted five major Russian energy companies — Gazprom, Gazpromneft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz and Rosneft.