Sanctions NEWS

US has been constantly pressurizing the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro over ties with other energy companies and vice-versa. From Russia's Rosneft to Chevron and Reliance, everyone has been warned to "tread cautiously". These comments have come in response to the question on about possible sanctions against Rosneft. I would tread cautiously towards their activities in Venezuela that are in support, directly or indirectly, of the Maduro dictatorship because ... we're halfway through our maximum pressure campaign", said US official.

On Monday, bombs planted underwater off Syria's coast exploded. The explosion has destroyed oil facilities that used to pump oil into one of Syria's two petroleum refineries. The imposition of sanction has already led to fuel shortages in Syria since last year. Oil minister Ali Ghanem said, "The aim of the attack is to cease (oil) imports into Syria". As of yet, no one has taken responsibility of this attack.

America's biofuels company, Growth Energy has filed a federal lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency of the US. The company has challenged US for its failing attempt to address rising waived biofuel volumes in its renewable fuel mandate for 2019. Growth Energy's CEO slammed EPA by saying "Today's filing calls for greater accountability from EPA to ensure that every renewable fuel obligation is fulfilled as the law intended".

Chinese administration has slapped retaliatory tariffs on an additional USD 16 billion worth of US import goods. The new list of affected items includes oil products, LPG, coal but the most expected crude oil was left off from the list. The 25% tariff will come into force from August 23rd. The move has come on the background of US tariff enforcement on Chinese goods from the same day in August.

Al Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia has informed that the postponement of Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) is “most likely”. The minister told reporters that, “we’re simply waiting for a market readiness for the IPO”

Due to scheduled maintenance at major Iranian facilities, China's supply of imported polyethylene (PE) from Iran might tighten up in the next three months. Chinese merchants are additionally careful about the US sanctions on Iran as this would mean increased trouble in cargo payments. Several Chinese distributors had to utilize third parties to dispatch payments for Iranian cargoes through Dubai to find their way along financial obstacles.

Total SA said on Wednesday that it will not commit any more financial investment into the Iran's South Pars 11 venture, owing to the risk associated with US sanctions. Total’s move goes onto reflect the challenges posed by the renewed US restrictions on Iran. The company said that withdrawing from the project, however, will not affect Total’s target to raise the company’s production by 5 percent/year between 2016 and 2022.