US Slaps Rosneft With Sanctions for Venezuelan Oil-Trade Ties
The US has sanctioned a unit of Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft PJSC, for maintaining ties with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and state-run oil company PDVSA.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is acting against Rosneft Trading SA, the company’s Swiss-incorporated brokerage firm, as well as its Chairman Didier Casimiro. The US restrictions come with a three-month wind-down period which expires on the 20th May.
The move represents the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign to oust Mr Maduro and rally international support behind Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.
For the oil market, it means disruption and increased legal costs for companies, though the wind-down period gives operators time to adjust to the new regime.
Oil futures pared a decline, with Brent crude down 27 cents on the day to US$57.40 a barrel at 1:03 pm New York time, after falling as much as US$1.37.
The rouble and Russia bonds fell. Rosneft share tumbled in Moscow, closing 2.7% lower.
Rosneft didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Russian government said the sanctions will not affect its international relations with Venezuela or any other country.
Rosneft is handling over half the oil coming from Venezuela and helping the country evade sanctions, according to US officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Rosneft recently facilitated a shipment of two million barrels of Venezuelan oil to West Africa, one of the officials said.
Rosneft has been evading sanctions by using ship-to-ship transfers to obtain Venezuelan oil, a US official said. In other cases, they have changed names on ships to avoid detection, or lied about the source of the oil.
The sanctions affect assets in the US.
But those engaging in transactions with Rosneft Trading and Casimiro worldwide run the risk of being sanctioned, an official said.
The restrictions are more narrowly targeted than Washington’s 2018 sanctions against metals group United Company Rusal, which threw global aluminium markets into turmoil.
The sanctions on the 18th February do not prohibit deals with Rosneft Trading’s parent company or its other units, the Treasury said in a Q&A. That assurance, together with the three-month wind-down period, should limit the disruption to the flow of oil from Russia.
Existing US sanctions already prohibit providing financing to Rosneft for longer than 60 days, meaning that traders have for several years been wary of striking longer-term deals with the Russian company.
President Trump personally signed off on the sanctions and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo discussed the matter on the 13th February with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, an official said.
In the wake of US sanctions on Venezuela, Russia has become the second-largest source of American oil imports. The nation’s crude and oil product exports to the US climbed to 20.9 million barrels last October, the highest since November 2011, according to US government data.
Rosneft is currently subject to some US market-sector sanctions, although those measures are not as far-reaching as the sanctions against businesses associated with the Maduro regime and do not prevent Rosneft from entering into transactions for Venezuelan oil.
Rosneft Loans
Rosneft has been Venezuela’s main shipper of crude, which goes predominantly to refineries in India and China. The Moscow-based company, controlled by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, has loaned US$6.5 billion to Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the Latin American country’s state-owned oil company, in exchange for crude.
Venezuelan oil sales fell to a 34-year-low in 2019 after sanctions cut off trade with the US, until then the country’s biggest customer.
Notably, the US Treasury Department has exempted Chevron Corporation, allowing the company to conduct business with PDVSA. Chevron has ramped up output at a key Venezuelan oil project to levels not seen in almost a year. Its current waiver from sanctions expires in April.
Rosneft Trading has been involved in a variety of international relationships for the Russian producer. It has been the counterparty for an oil-supply deal with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, a liquefied natural gas contract with Egypt and gasoline shipments to Asia, according to the company’s website.
The impact on Rosneft’s core business of selling Russian oil on the global market is unclear.
Recent company documents offering crude and refined oil products for sale do not mention the Switzerland-based trading arm.
However, Rosneft Trading SA was the counterparty for a contract to supply crude to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline from 2017 to 2018, according to a company disclosure.
Source: Rigzone