Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, plans to cut its capital spending because of economic and political volatility, vice president Leonid Fedun said.

Lukoil has not been directly affected by Western sanctions against Russia over its stance towards Ukraine but is suffering from a spike in international borrowing rates and the overall slowdown in Russia’s economy.

“I will recommend to my colleagues to cut the investment programme to accumulate more cash,” Interfax quoted Fedun as saying. Fedun is one of two main Lukoil shareholders along with chief executive Vagit Alekperov. Senior vice-president Alexander Matytsyn said the company aimed to cut capital expenditure by as much as $2 billion starting from 2015.

In the first six months of the year, Lukoil’s capex stood at $7.7 billion, with around a quarter in overseas projects. Lukoil has the most foreign assets among Russian energy companies. It is leading the West Qurna-2 project in Iraq. The company said in a presentation that daily production at the project had reached 330,000 barrels per day (bpd). West Qurna-2’s output is expected to peak at 1.2 mbpd from estimated recoverable reserves of about 13 billion barrels.