The measures are part of a full range of blocking sanctions overseen by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) including not just the two corporate entities of Lukoil and Rosneft (and their multiple subsidiaries) being added to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List but key individuals connected to the firms as well. Indeed, a source who works closely with the E.U.’s energy security apparatus exclusively told OilPrice.com at the time, that a very high-ranking official from the Kremlin said that: “By keeping the West out of energy deals in Iraq, the end of Western hegemony in the Middle East will become the decisive chapter in the West’s final demise.” On the second point, Baghdad had long endured problems with Lukoil on the site, which means it may have been happier than it has let on to yield to U.S. pressure regarding the firm. Surprisingly for the Russians, the Oil Ministry’s response was to say that it was fine if Lukoil wanted to leave but that before it did so it would pay compensation in lieu of the upfront investment that it promised in 2017 and promised again in 2019 as it was not meeting the time-sensitive oil production targets that it had agreed to.
Author: Simon Watkins
Published at: 2025-11-10 22:00:00
Still want to read the full version? Full article
