ENERGY/RUSSIA/VENEZUELA: “The Trump administration is ready to block a Russian state-owned oil giant from gaining control of critical U.S. energy assets owned by Moscow’s ally in Venezuela, senior American officials say, a move that could feed tensions between the old Cold-War foes.
Petróleos de Venezuela SA offered Russia’s PAO Rosneft nearly half of its Citgo Petroleum Corp. unit’s shares as collateral for $1.5 billion in loans it made in 2016 to help prop up the cash-starved company and its owner, the Venezuelan government.
Some U.S. lawmakers, worried the sanctioned Russian oil company could gain a controlling interest in a company that represents roughly 5% of U.S. crude-oil refining capacity, urged the Trump administration to use powers granted under national security laws to prevent the deal from happening.
Rosneft, seeing the potential for its Citgo deal going sour in the U.S., has tried to line up new collateral for its loans, say two people familiar with the matter. Besides arranging interests in major oil-producing operations in Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro’s government has also promised future crude deliveries as collateral and interest payments, the two people said.
Representatives from the Russian Embassy in Washington, Citgo, Rosneft and PdVSA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.”
-Ian Talley, “U.S. to Block Potential Russian Move Into American Energy,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 31, 2017 11:39am