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Page added on April 21, 2017
Trump denies Exxon permission to drill for oil in Russia
The Trump administration has denied ExxonMobil permission to bypass sanctions to drill for oil in Russia.
“The Treasury Department will not be issuing waivers to U.S. companies, including Exxon, authorizing drilling prohibited by current Russian sanctions,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said in a statement Friday. Mnuchin said he consulted with President Trump on the decision.
Exxon had applied for a waiver from sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in a bid to resume its lucrative joint venture with Russian state oil giant PAO Rosneft.
In a statement, Exxon said “we understand” the decision by the Treasury Department. Exxon explained that its application for a license was aimed at meeting the company’s “contractual obligations” in Russia, where competitors are allowed to drill under European sanctions.
There are powerful reasons why Exxon would want to get back into business with Rosneft: Their agreement to form a joint venture, signed in 2011, allowed Exxon to conduct offshore exploration in the Black Sea and the Kara Sea in Siberia.
The undeveloped oil fields are thought to be the most promising in the Russian Arctic, according to S&P Global Platts.
In 2012, the two firms agreed to jointly develop more oil reserves in Siberia and establish a research center in the Arctic.
Plans to build a large natural gas plant near Vladivostock in eastern Russia followed in 2013.
The deepening relationship was put on hold, however, after the United States, European Union and other Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 over its role in the crisis in Ukraine.
Exxon, which has been operating in Russia for more than 20 years, was allowed to finish some of its projects. But then the drilling stopped.
A lot has changed since then. The Russian economy has turned the corner, emerging from a painful recession in the final quarter of 2016.
Oil prices have climbed back above $50 per barrel.
The Trump administration is under intense scrutiny over its ties to Moscow. The fact that the current secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, spearheaded the Rosneft deal while CEO of Exxon, has drawn even more attention to the waiver request.
Tillerson has recused himself from all government matters involving Exxon. He also sold all his stock in the firm, and is placing the shares he would have received over the next decade into an independently managed trust.
But a political storm started brewing earlier this week when the Wall Street Journal first reported that Exxon was seeking a waiver.
Sen. John McCain, a Republican, asked “Are they crazy?” when news of the waiver application broke. McCain is a leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intel Committee, said that the waiver should be denied.
“The Treasury Department should reject any waiver from sanctions which would allow Exxon Mobile or any other company to resume business with prohibited Russian entities,” he said in a statement.
“I was very surprised Exxon did this because it would be bad publicity. The secretary of state was only on the job for two months and they already tried to get behind the sanctions,” said Fadel Gheit, managing director of Oppenheimer & Co.’s oil and gas research division.
Still, the financial incentives for Exxon are powerful when it comes to Russia.
“Exxon is a big company. It’s very hard for anything to move the needle,” said Brian Youngberg, senior energy analyst at Edward Jones. “Russia could potentially be that, years out. It potentially could be very lucrative.”
In March 2016, Tillerson said that Exxon was “very anxious to get back to work there.”
His successor echoed that hope earlier this year.
“In Russia, we’re there for the long term,” CEO Darren Woods said in a February interview with Forbes.
–Ivana Kottasova and Julia Horowitz also contributed to this report.
23 Comments on "Trump denies Exxon permission to drill for oil in Russia"
dissident on Fri, 21st Apr 2017 9:47 pm
Too bad for America. The insane hubris to think that Russia needs Exxon. No, Exxon needs Russian resources.
AFDF on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 12:09 am
why is blowhard trump having so much powa over exxon? this doesn’t make sense really.
Either corporations control the government or not.
I’m pretty sure if politics work, I’d have no problem solving world hunger by passing a law requiring all wild life to register at the nearest butcher shop.
I know enough to avoid coming up to your face and blow smoke. I don’t think you’d bother with politiking.
I just proved that trump is just a blowhard. exxon can do whatever it wants.
GregT on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 12:17 am
“The deepening relationship was put on hold, however, after the United States, European Union and other Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 over its role in the crisis in Ukraine.”
Stopped reading at that point. More western MSM bullshit propaganda.
makati1 on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 2:06 am
GregT, you got it in one.
Go Speed Racer on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 2:12 am
Trumposaurus made Russia our buddies.
But he has to pretend they are not our buddies.
So they put out this headline to make things look harsh.
Later on they will reverse position, when nobody is looking.
Cloggie on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 3:10 am
Trump still doesn’t feel strong enough to carry out his election promise and make up with Russia and still lets himself being pushed into conflict with Russia over Syria and Crimea and now Exxon. The neocons are down but not out.
Anonymouse on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 4:18 am
Did he tweet you that little insight to you personally clogged sewer? Or did you pull that right out your ass, like usual?
Im going to going with the ass-pule on this one.(again) You have zero idea what, if anything is going on in the trumpsters cranium. And what we call ‘reality’ hasn’t exactly operating with your make-believe narratives either. Now of course, I dont know the trumps deepest thoughts either…or his thought maybe, but based on real-world-observations, its a safe bet taking on the NWO ins’t one of them.
Cloggie on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 4:54 am
Did he tweet you that little insight to you personally clogged sewer? Or did you pull that right out your ass, like usual?
Planetary embarrassment anonymouse can’t discern the contradiction in his own post:
Now of course, I dont know the trumps deepest thoughts either
But you are sure my judgment is wrong, right bro? Just because it is me who says it. And since bro never gets any opposition from his spineless liberal Toronto environment, he now thinks he can wage open warfare, abandon all the riles of civilized discussion, like the rest of his bros in Anglosphere…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE62meNP-X8
…that is in a state of full geopolitical meltdown, because there are meanwhile too many like mouse within the gates, causing the entire illiterate setup to crash and certainly unfit to subjugate the entire world.
Mouse is too stupid to understand that a conflict is in my interest, not in his. He could be outside of the corral in a blink of an eye. Nobody needs you, with your impotent sneers, zero constructive engineering contributions and your beautiful climate change thoughts, putting you in the position of the climate change thought police, or so you think, spearheaded by the wannabee climate Lenin Apneaman.
Trump is no Putin for sure, it is too early for a Putin in America yet, but Trump is sure as hell no BAU either. He is a transition figure, with one leg in the logic of the US empire and another in the world of European America that brought him to power. Trump is comparable to Gorbachev in the USSR, both involuntarily initiating the end of their respective empires and terminating the progressive 20th century while they are at it.
An American Putin can only happen after the decomposition of the US empire, a decomposition that like in the USSR, will be brought about by internal forces, in the US case forces representing European America.
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it.
Meanwhile Gorbachev and Putin are dreaming of membership of the Common European Home.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Home
Won’t be different with the Heartland, after the break. You are smart enough to at least get the hint.
But hey, cheer up, maybe some day you end up on a Eurasian pay role to become the new African elite and act as a Eurasian proxy.
Dredd on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 5:04 am
A delay tactic or another change brought on by the current political reality?
“Are they crazy.” asks senator McCain.
“Yep” says 35 shrinks at a Yale Univ. conference (Donald Trump has ‘dangerous mental illness’, say psychiatry experts at Yale conference).
Davy on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 7:08 am
Trump is unpredictable gamer and Putin is a pragmatic chess champion. The game is a little chess and a little poker. Who will win, who knows? What is going on in the halls of power is deeper than anyone of you on this board especially the intellectually lazy anti-Americans can understand. Talk about a dead end of thought. I am just speculating myself.
Trump is playing his card. He will always be open to a Russian détente. He is open to this and conflict with Russia because that is the nature of the game and Trump is about winning the game. His mentality is a businessman and the deal but he is evolving as a politician and the power principal. Winning for him is fulfilling his campaign promises but also his own personal ego of success. This will vary with the seasons of change within Washington and the world.
Writing off Trump or doubling down on his success is folly. We just don’t know with this guy because he can change so quickly. This is part of his strategy. It is both an effective strategy and eventually a destructive one. At some point coherent policy is one that has momentum and consistency. Unpredictability is useful to a point then it becomes self-defeating.
I imagine if Trump and Putin ever come to a point where they can make an agreement in person they may make one. Status quo power will try to prevent this at all cost. Both leader’s egos game and they believe in the power of the personality. This means they will offer something and expect something in return that will then be held sacred. If this is broken then they will become enemies.
Currently it appears Trump has come to some kind of agreement with the deep state neocon/neoliberal powers. It appears to only be temporary because how can you reconcile Trump with the status quo DC? His platform was anti status quo DC. He has a vision he will try to realize. He is a gamer and he will learn the game and you can only learn it from within. He has only been there 100 days so he has much yet to learn. There is nothing that says he will succeed or fail. It is too early to tell and likewise with Russian détente or conflict.
rockman on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 9:09 am
“The Treasury Department should reject any waiver from sanctions which would allow Exxon Mobile or any other company to resume business with prohibited Russian entities,” And the obvious: not “any other company”…any other US corporation. The greater impacts regarding Russian oil development are the sanctions by the EU and other countries. As noted Russia needs neither XOM or any other US company but it does need others. Especially the drilling contractors.
So the key is the resolve of those other countries. A resolve that might be seeing some cracks in it. And bigger cracks if increasing oil prices gives Russia more ability to squeeze the EU with respect to energy exports and EU imports:
“Opposition within Europe
Italy, Hungary, Greece, France, some German states, Cyprus and Slovakia are among the EU states most skeptical about the sanctions and have called for review of sanctions. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Europe “shot itself in the foot” by introducing economic sanctions. Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov stated, “I don’t know how Russia is affected by the sanctions, but Bulgaria is affected severely”; Czech President Miloš Zeman and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico also said that the sanctions should be lifted.
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that Greece would seek to mend ties between Russia and EU through European institutions. Tsipras also said that Greece was not in favour of Western sanctions imposed on Russia, adding that it risked the start of another Cold War.
A number of business figures in France and Germany have opposed the sanctions. The German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that the Ukrainian crisis should be resolved by dialogue rather than economic confrontation, later adding that the reinforcement of anti-Russian sanctions will “provoke an even more dangerous situation… in Europe”.
Paolo Gentiloni, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that the sanctions “are not the solution to the conflict”. Some companies, most notably Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies LLC, were reported to attempt bypassing the sanctions and exporting power generation turbines to the annexed Crimea.
In August 2015, the British think tank Bow Group released a report on sanctions, calling for the removal of them. According to the report, the sanctions have had “adverse consequences for European and American businesses, and if they are prolonged… they can have even more deleterious effects in the future”; the potential cost of sanctions for the Western countries has been estimated as over $700 billion.”
joe on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 9:21 am
Trump just split with the EU over Turkey, US backing the latest dictator the EU not so happy. To keep those losers sweet they are making noises over positive trade with the EU (not gonna make America great again), so now he has to keep the deep state happy by stopping his friends from drilling. President Flip Flop does everyone’s bidding.
shortonoil on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 10:03 am
Oil is failing, and so is our political ability to handle that failure. When it takes over 2 barrels of crude to make a barrel’s worth of fuel the economy has failed. Maybe Washington can sanction that!
http://thehillsgroup.thehillsgroup.info/p/040217refinery-yieldsthe-et-model-is.html
Cloggie on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 11:25 am
Oil is failing
???
I just visited the petrol station and I swear that I didn’t have to push my car home.
When it takes over 2 barrels of crude to make a barrel’s worth of fuel the economy has failed.
And if the sky comes down, we will all be having blue hats.
Apneaman on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 12:39 pm
hair clog “knows” what Trump “feels”. They must have some special trans Atlantic psychic connection.
Why do you call me a wannabe “climate Lenin”?
Don’t make sense to me on any level. First off the Commies were an industrial environmental holocaust all of their own – no better than the west and probably worse on a per capita basis. Secondly if you are referring to dictating others behaviour you ain’t got nothing on me. I never tell people what to do. I never start a sentence with “you should” or “you need to” accept in jest like, “you should STFU”. I do not advocate for anything hair clog. It’s really obvious and claiming otherwise shows just how poor your powers of observation are and how regularly you hang enemy labels on people just because you don’t like them or disagree with their comments. Pay attention clog and it will become apparent very quickly that my comments are descriptive and predictive, but never prescriptive. You know every time I see/hear someone telling other humans what the should/need to do, I know I’m dealing with someone with zero understanding of how human belief works. It is the quickest way to to guarantee losing any chance of turning folks off and planting a seed.
Go ahead clog, show us the links where I tell everyone they “need” “must” “should” do XYZ to save themselves or because it’s the “responsible” or “moral” thing to do. Good luck with your search hair clog.The closest you will ever get is when I tell people that IF they so desired they might be able to push for some AGW adaption and protection on the local level and that’s just my opinion bases on the fact that I see it happen in some locals. My point there is it may buy them some time and/or reduce the unavoidable suffering that is coming for all. Clog you are simply too wedded to your emotions and fantasy renaissance dreams to understand a determinist. I think this confusion is why you throw every label you can think of at me hoping one sticks. I have said on many occasions that it was back in 2012 when I gave up on the humans and I have made that pretty clear in many other ways. None of it matters. The humans have already assured the collapse of their global civilisation and are probably going bye bye for all the same reasons. The extinction discussion is really academic since the humans will and are only concerned with survival in the here and now and in the not too distant future it is only going to continually get harder and harder. Some have already been killed by AGW consequences and many more are on the edge right now.
You’re missing the big picture clog. All this tribalism is secondary to the real reasons the humans are fucked. It’s evolutionary and can’t be stopped and that is no ones fault. Sure there all lots of bad guys, real & imaginary, so go have your fun blaming them and trumpeting your tribes superiority, but the humans fate is sealed. I will continue to demonstrate this daily. Think of it as my contribution towards your enlightenment.
Apneaman on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 12:42 pm
WHY FACTS DON’T CHANGE OUR MINDS
New discoveries about the human mind show the limitations of reason.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds
Apneaman on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 12:47 pm
Large wildfires and major flooding as Siberia faces a spring that’s both dry and wet
“Rising temperatures and strong winds are fuelling an increase in wildfires, as highlighted in these dramatic pictures.”
http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/large-wildfires-and-major-flooding-as-siberia-faces-a-spring-thats-both-dry-and-wet/
Boat on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 2:04 pm
Short,
The world’s economy is growing, oil demand strong at 1.4 Mbpd, the glut is still with us and frackers are adding rigs every week for 14,weeks. Since Julybthe US has raised production 800,000 bpd. Somehow all these trends will have to reverse and then go into world wide collaspe within 1 year and 3 months. You and your supporters are laughing stocks already. Your outta time dude. Doomers just can’t handle reality.
Apneaman on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 4:59 pm
Boat, growing for whom? If, in fact, the world’s economy is growing, oil demand strong at 1.4 Mbpd it is definitely not translating into a better life for the masses, so why are you cheer leading like a high school girl about it?
America is Regressing into a Developing Nation for Most People
“In a new book, The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, Peter Temin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, draws a portrait of the new reality in a way that is frighteningly, indelibly clear: America is not one country anymore. It is becoming two, each with vastly different resources, expectations, and fates.”
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/04/america-regressing-developing-nation-people.html
8 rich people own as much wealth as half the world
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/01/18/rich-people-own-much-money-half-world-report-says/y6az3Wtasd5TIf9Q6k3I4K/story.html
None of this counts or concerns you eh? As long as the numbers from those all powerful bureaucracies, you worship like a fanatical Muslim worships the Koran, keep telling you everything is Awesome then you are happy.
Death to America: Suicide Surge Parallels Era of Economic Woes
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/22/death-america-suicide-surge-parallels-era-economic-woes
Tell yourself boat.
onlooker on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 5:18 pm
Typical human
“see no evil , hear no evil, speak no evil”
In the immortal words of Jack Nicholson “You can’t handle the truth”
Boat on Sat, 22nd Apr 2017 10:48 pm
Ape,
I know a Mexican framing crew that can do a three story town house in 6 days. The crew leader/boss pays his guys $200 per day. Extreamly hard work but these guys are good. They have no problem getting jobs and are in high demand because they are so fast and can read blue prints. Plenty of opportunity for those who work. I can tell you dozens of stories of success just in Houston home building.
Anonymouse on Sun, 23rd Apr 2017 1:27 am
Rofl, what a retard. That’d be you boatytard, case you were wondering…
Theedrich on Sun, 23rd Apr 2017 2:34 am
If Russia could impose the same sanctions on the American libland that the DeepState has forced on Russia, the CIA would declare it to be a casus belli. Insane McCain and the 35 psychos who cursed Trump (as their foregoers did to G.W. Bush and other Repub presidents and presidential candidates, as I recall) are simply looking for their 15 minutes of fame, hoping it will somehow raise their salaries and popularity. Their Amen corner on this blog (e.g., the man-ape and other anti-White nihilists) loves any attack on the president, even if it threatens to bring about WW III with Russia.
Our best hope is if some of the Europeans abjure all the the DeepState/MSM sabre-rattling and help with Russia’s oil industry. The sanctions hurt not only Russia but Europe as well. Naturally, that means nothing to the Yids infesting the DS.
A female Parisian friend e-mails me that French non-elites view America as a “big island” that can afford to be arrogant and cruel because we are surrounded by an oceanic moat which isolates us from the consequences our princelings cause with their mass killings and the other suffering they visit upon the world.