From The Hill
The Treasury Department will not grant Exxon Mobil Corp.’s request for a waiver allowing it to work with Russia’s state oil company on a joint drilling venture, the agency said Friday.
“In consultation with President Donald J. Trump, 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.
Exxon reportedly requested a waiver from the Trump administration this week that would allow it to drill for oil in the Black Sea, an area covered by U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia following the country’s annexation of Crimea in Ukraine.
Exxon has long hoped to partner with Russian’s state-run oil giant PAO Rosneft on a drilling plan there. The company attempted to gain a waiver from sanctions allowing the operation in 2015, but that request was denied by Obama officials.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was Exxon’s CEO in 2012 when the two companies hatched the drilling plan, which would be worth billions of dollars for both companies, as well as Russia.
The State Department is one of a handful of federal agencies tasked with approving sanctions waivers, though Tillerson has said he will sit out decisions involving his former company for at least two years.
Exxon under Tillerson opposed Obama administration sanctions on Russia, arguing they were not properly issued. After the sanctions were put in place, the company did obtain a waiver to finish drilling a well in the Arctic Ocean.
Exxon’s waiver request was met with resistance from key lawmakers this week. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a leading Russia hawk, responded to news of Exxon’s request with a Wednesday tweet reading, “Are you crazy?” Other lawmakers, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Bob Menendez(D-N.J.), criticized the request as well.
