US energy giant ExxonMobil said that US and European Union sanctions against Russia cost it $1 billion last year.
Exxon said the tremendous loss was generated from suspending a joint venture with Russian oil major Rosneft. ExxonMobil and Rosneft established projects to conduct exploration and research activities in 2013 and 2014.
The sanctions include a ban on providing various oil equipment and services, such as for drilling in offshore projects in deep water, in the Arctic, or in shale well drilling. Exxon was forced to abandon its joint venture with Rosneft for exploration drilling in the Kara Sea, off northern Siberia; an area estimated to hold 87 billion barrels of oil.
Russia’s Rosneft and its President Igor Sechin have been put under US and EU sanctions.