Energy

Energy Industry Gets Small Victory In Russian Sanctions Bill

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Chris White Tech Reporter
Font Size:

House lawmakers hashed out new sanctions targeting Russia Saturday that reduce some of the restrictions the U.S. Senate’s version of the proposal foisted upon American energy companies.

Republicans and Democrats forged ahead on a bill preventing U.S. companies from doing business with projects in which Russian individuals have at least a 33 percent interest. Oil companies wanted Congress to peg the threshold at 50 percent.

The final legislation, which is meant to punish Russia for allegedly hacking the presidential election, is a substantial victory for the energy industry, considering the Senate’s version would have permanently barred any U.S. companies from doing business with a project with any Russian dealings.

“There remain concerns with how this legislation could affect U.S. business interests in the future, but the amended bill more appropriately focuses sanctions on the intended target — Russia and its energy firms,” Marty Durbin, an executive vice president with the American Petroleum Institute, told reporters after the House’s announcement.

Analysts had warned lawmakers that the bill could potentially help Russia and hurt U.S. interests.

“Were this legislation to pass with the Directive 4 provision included, it could block U.S. oil and gas firms from participating in some international oil exploration and production projects,” Richard Sawaya, vice president of National Foreign Trade Council, wrote in an editorial earlier this month.

If a sanctioned Russian company develops an oil field anywhere in Europe, then U.S. companies would be denied the means to explore anywhere on the field, according to Sawaya, who also heads USA Engage, an advocacy group for the agricultural industry.

The blowback would have been significant, according to others.

Companies such as GE, Boeing, Proctor & Gamble, John Deere and a subsidiary of Caterpillar, for instance, could get slapped for doing business in Eastern European countries. Popular hotel chains like Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt have important properties in Azerbaijan, where there are significant Russian investments.

The bill also calls for limits on investment in Russian pipeline projects, which is aimed at shuttering the multi-billion-dollar Nord Stream 2 project, a move that could potentially put the U.S. and European allies at loggerheads

German officials pushed back earlier this month against Congress and President Donald Trump’s campaign to kill the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a natural gas line linking parts of Europe to Russia. It is expected to shuttle an additional 55 billion cubic meters of gas directly from Russia to Germany.

Germany is heavily dependent on Russia for its gas and energy supply, using Russian gas as baseload energy to stabilize the less reliable green energy industry. Some evidence also shows that Germany’s reliance on green energy subsidies has caused damage to the country’s electrical grids.

The Trump administration signaled a willingness to sign the legislation. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the Trump would sign the package if it reaches his desk.

“We support where the legislation is now, and will continue to work with the House and Senate to put those tough sanctions in place on Russia,” she said. Congress is expected to vote on the final bill on Tuesday.

Follow Chris White on Facebook and Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel