MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Western oilfield services companies may sell their business assets in Russia if they withdraw from the Russian market amid sanctions, Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said on the Rossiya 24 television on Saturday.

“At present these companies have 11,000 people working for them so they cannot be just closed,” Novak said adding that if the Western partners had to go from Russia, they would definitely sell their business assets.

The world’s biggest oilfield services companies Schlumberger and Halliburton have been operating in Russia by now.