NGW Magazine: Russia Dodges US Sanctions
Gazprom and Rosneft announced a plethora of new trade and technology cooperation agreements at a trade fair in the Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok in early September. The US Treasury Department had kicked the month off with a new list of Russian individuals and companies that were covered by its trade sanctions.
The sanctions are a response to Russia’s continued occupation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine and aim to hit it in the wallet. The ruble has lost much of its value since early 2014, and with long-term western financing off the agenda, projects such as Yamal LNG have had to turn instead to Russian or – mostly – Chinese institutions.
But in a possible riposte, Gazprom’s press department issued four statements on September 2 on new agreements with foreign firms. Two involve “potential cooperation”: one with Linde is on mid-scale LNG production – its second cooperation agreement with the German gas technology company in three months – and the other with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.