The United States has announced a comprehensive package of restrictions against Russia's oil and gas sector. The OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control, a division of the U.S. Treasury) reported that "Gazprom Neft" and "Surgutneftegas" have been added to the SDN List. The UK has also joined the sanctions against these companies, according to Interfax. Additionally, the sanctions target subsidiaries of "Gazprom Neft" and "Surgutneftegas."
Among them are "Gazpromneft Tajikistan," Gazprom Neft International SA, "Gazpromneft-Kazakhstan," "Gazprom Neft Asia" (Kyrgyzstan), "Munai Myrza" (Kyrgyzstan), and Surgutneftegasbank.
OFAC emphasizes that all companies, directly or indirectly controlled by "Gazprom Neft" and "Surgutneftegas," are considered subjects of blocking sanctions, even if their names are not listed. The SDN List also includes the Serbian subsidiary of "Gazprom Neft" - NIS. Furthermore, sanctions are imposed on "RN-Vankor" (the operator of Rosneft's "Vostok Oil" project).
"Today's decisions increase the sanction risk associated with trading Russian oil, including shipping and financial support for the export of Russian oil," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Moreover, numerous vessels and oil traders have been added to the sanctions list. Specifically, OFAC identified 69 vessels from "Sovcomflot," including 54 oil tankers and four LNG tankers (and the grounds for including the company in the sanctions list have been expanded). This list also includes vessels from "Gazpromneft Marine Bunker," "Rosnefteflot," and its vessels, as well as shipping companies Argo Tanker Group, Sunor, RPK Nord, and LK Volga. In total, sanctions have been applied to over 180 vessels. Additionally, the Treasury has included the UAE-registered company Black Pearl Energy Trading LLC (Black Pearl) in the sanctions list, which, according to the agency, has been a major trader of Russian oil since 2023, selling it in violation of the $60 per barrel price cap. Nine more companies from the UAE and Hong Kong that supplied Russian oil and petroleum products have also been added to the sanctions list.
The U.S. has also approved a ban on its companies providing oil extraction services in Russia. This will take effect on February 27. Since January 10, a group of top executives in the Russian oil and gas sector has been under personal sanctions. This includes Vadim Vorobyov, head of LUKOIL, Alexander Dyukov, CEO of Gazprom Neft, Nail Maganov (Tatneft), Sergey Kudryashov (Zarubezhneft), and Vladimir Chernov (Bashneft). The owner of the oil service company "Velltel" Yusuf Alekperov has also been added to this list.