OFAC Settles With Cameron Int'l for Russian Offshore Sanctions Breach

The U.S. Treasury has reached a settlement agreement with drilling equipment maker Cameron International over apparent violations of U.S. sanctions on Russia's Arctic offshore oil industry. 

After Russia invaded and occupied Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, the Obama administration imposed stiff sanctions on certain sectors of the Russian energy economy. The measures forbid U.S. persons from selling goods,  services or technology for use in Russian deepwater, Arctic offshore or shale projects. This swiftly shut down Russian oil companies' access to American drilling technology and forced the cancellation of at least one major joint venture, an Exxon-Rosneft partnership for exploration in the Kara Sea.

According to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, one Houston-based oilfield supply firm did not comply with these restrictions. In 2015-16, a Romanian subsidiary of Cameron International Corporation reached a deal with the Russian oil company Gazprom-Neft to supply goods for the Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform. Prirazlomnaya is the only operational offshore production project on the Russian Arctic continental shelf, making it uniquely susceptible to U.S. sanctions.

In late July 2015, Cameron Romania's staff reached out to executives at the company's Houston office to request approval for contracts with Gazprom-Neft Shelf, the o....