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US oilfield services corporation Weatherford International is expanding its Russian division despite sanctions, the Financial Times (FT) reported on 20 August.

According to the FT, Weatherford has posted about 100 job advertisements in Russia since the end of February. The role played by its Russian business in Weatherford's financial performance has increased: in first half 2025, Russia accounted for 7% of its total revenue of $2.4 billion, compared with 5% in first half 2024.

At the same time, experts polled by the FT believe that Weatherford's Russian business operates independently of its American headquarters, and the income generated in Russia is reinvested there without going to the parent company. In March 2022, Weatherford International announced that it would cease investing and applying technologies in Russia. In July 2025, Weatherford notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it was closely monitoring "any changes in international laws and sanctions."

Two of Weatherford's largest American competitors, Baker Hughes and Halliburton, have sold their Russian divisions to local management teams, the FT says. At the same time, Texas-based SLB (formerly known as Schlumberger) also continues to operate in Russia.

Citing corporate documents from Weatherford's Russian division, the FT writes that since the start of military operations in Ukraine, the company's workforce in Russia has increased by 9% to reach 2,382 people in 2024. From 2022 to 2024, the division increased its gross profit by 61% to RUB 9.4 billion and its revenue by almost 30% to RUB 25.7 billion.