Exxon Mobil has applied to the Treasury Department for a waiver that would allow the company to do business with Russia’s state-owned oil giant Rosneft in areas banned under U.S. sanctions, the The Wall Street Journal reports on April 19, 2017.
Exxon Mobil applied for a similar waiver to drill in prohibited areas in 2015 but was rejected.
Tillerson was the company’s CEO from 2006 to 2016, when he stepped down in anticipation of becoming secretary of State, a position for which he was confirmed in February.
Approximately a month after his confirmation, Exxon Mobil reportedly launched a renewed effort to obtain a waiver to do business with Rosneft.
The State Department will reportedly have a say on the outcome Exxon Mobil’s waiver application.
Tillerson has previously stated that Exxon opposes sanctions that it views as arbitrarily applied, but during his confirmation hearing he testified that neither he nor Exxon Mobil had ever lobbied the U.S. to ease sanctions on Russia.
Due to the US sanctions, ExxonMobil was forced to withdraw its activities in Russia, with the exception of the Sakhalin-1 project.
Rosneft stated that it is ready to independently continue its work in the Arctic.
Nevertheless, according to the head of the Russian company Igor Sechin, in 2019 Rosneft and ExxonMobil plan to continue drilling in the Kara Sea.
And in 2017, Rosneft intends to conduct 3D seismic in the Arctic, where the Pobeda deposit was discovered.
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