Russian Energy Transportation Not Targeted by US Sanctions: US Treasury

WASHINGTON, December 12 (Sputnik) — US sanctions targeting Russia's energy sector are not aimed at the transportation and sale of Russian oil and gas, a spokesperson for the US Treasury told Sputnik News Agency on Friday.

"While these sanctions do not target or interfere with the current supply of energy from Russia or prevent Russian companies from selling oil and gas to any country, they make it difficult for Russia to develop long-term, technically challenging future projects," the Treasury spokesperson said.

The spokesperson at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees sanctions implementation, said the restrictions prohibited the provision of goods, services and technology to Russian deep-water, Arctic offshore, and shale projects involving entities that had been sanctioned. Those sanctions went into effect with an executive order in September.

"The purpose of this step is to impair Russian efforts to explore and develop new oil in these ‘frontier’ areas, where Russian firms rely on US and European goods, services, and technology," the Treasury said.

The sanctions targeting "production" do not include transportation of oil so long as it is not restricted by the financial provisions of the sanctions, the Treasury clarified. The response comes as US oil and gas industries questioned what the Treasury defines as "production."

The Treasury clarified the term production "refers to the lifting of oil to the surface and the gathering, treating, field processing, and field storage of such oil."

According to the Treasury, the sanctions do not prohibit the provision of goods, technology, or services to sanctioned persons or entities in Russia "when such transactions relate only to the transportation, refining, or other dealings involving oil that has already been extracted from a deep-water, Arctic offshore, or shale project and transported out of a field production storage tank or otherwise off of a field production site."

In recent months, the United States and European Union have introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia, targeting its banking, energy and defense sectors. The West says the measures are aimed at making Russia change its stance with regard to Ukraine that has been gripped by an internal conflict since April.

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, stressing that sanctions are counterproductive and threaten international stability.