Malaysia crash ups Ukraine tension with oil firms caught in middle
The confrontation between Russia and the West took a turn for the worse with the downing of a Malaysian airliner on July 17, and that could spell trouble for several major oil companies operating in Russia.
Just one day earlier, U.S. President Barack Obama听听on Russia over its ongoing role in the destabilization of Ukraine. The sanctions prohibited American banks from听to four key Russian companies 鈥� Rosneft, Novatek, Gazprombank, and VEB.
鈥淏ecause Russia has failed to meet the basic standards of international conduct, we are acting today to open Russia鈥檚 financial services and energy sectors to sanctions,鈥� U.S. Treasury Official David S. Cohen听.
The sanctions tightened the economic noose on the Russian economy by targeting companies in Russia鈥檚 energy sector. Up until now, western sanctions largely targeted individuals in the Russian elite, freezing their assets or issuing bans on American companies from doing business with them. But with oil and gas accounting for over听听of revenues for the Russian state, if Obama wanted sanctions to have any bite, he had to escalate the campaign by going after Russia鈥檚 energy sector.
Until the July 16 announcement, the major western oil companies operating in Russia shrugged off their effects. Companies like BP, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell听听pressure to avoid doing business with Russia.
They made a big bet on the likelihood that their billion-dollar projects would not be affected by the deteriorating relationship between Russia and the West.
But the markets took the latest round of sanctions much more seriously than their previous iterations. Rosneft saw its听by 6.2 percent the day of the announcement, and Novatek was off 11.5 percent.
And western companies were not safe either. BP听听in its market value on July 17. BP owns a 19.8 percent share of Rosneft, Russia鈥檚 state-owned oil company that was singled out by Obama鈥檚 sanctions. Nearly one-third of BP鈥檚 global oil production 鈥� or 1 million barrels per day 鈥� comes from its investment in Rosneft. (Related Article:听)
ExxonMobil also has massive business plans with Rosneft. The two companies are drilling a $300 million well in Siberia, and next month they plan on drilling a听听in the Russian Arctic, the country鈥檚 most expensive in history. ExxonMobil and Rosneft have also agreed to jointly develop an听听on Russia鈥檚 Pacific coast. The Houston-based ExxonMobil has thus far maintained that the projects will be unaffected by sanctions, but that has been thrown into doubt after the U.S. Treasury Department鈥檚 latest move.
On July 18, Zacks.com, a market research firm,听听against putting their money into companies with exposure to Russia, including ExxonMobil.
Russian President Vladimir Putin scoffed at the sanctions, saying that they will merely hurt American energy companies. 鈥淭his means that U.S. companies willing to work in Russia will lose their competitiveness next to other global energy companies,鈥澨�. 鈥淪o, do they not want it to work here? They are causing damage to their major energy companies.鈥�
With financing likely to be increasingly hard to come by for Russia鈥檚 major oil and gas companies, several of them are looking east for access to lending. As听, Russian energy companies are becoming more dependent on Chinese finance to pay for their capital-intensive projects. Partly, this is due to China looking for more Russian energy, but it is also because Russia sees the door slowly closing on access to western banks.
The rift between Russia and the West is bound to worsen after in the aftermath of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 being听听by a surface-to-air missile in pro-Russian rebel territory. And the cumulative effect of recent sanctions could be minor compared to what may be coming. The U.S. could issue far-reaching sanctions, and the incident could help European Union leaders overcome their hesitation over inflicting damage on the Russian economy.
The international community has called for a full investigation, but right now, all roads appear to be leading to Moscow. Perhaps fearing the fallout from the incident, Putin called for a听听in Ukraine. 听
Swept up in the international crisis are the major oil companies 鈥� BP and ExxonMobil 鈥� who fear their bottom line taking a big hit from Russia鈥檚 growing isolation.
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