In a letter dated January 12 and obtained by the Kommersant newspaper, Oracle warned Russian partners about its compliance with the new US sanctions demands targeting the oil and gas sector of the Russian economy.
The sanctions ban providing, exporting, or re-exporting goods, services, or technologies that support deepwater and Arctic offshore exploration and drilling, as well as shale projects involving one of the companies included by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in Directive 4 under Executive Order 13662.
READ MORE: Anti-Russia Sanctions Have No Impact on Rosneft's Oil, Gas Shelf Projects
On October 31, the US Department of the Treasury expanded the restrictions saying that all the projects with at least 33-percent participation of the sanctioned companies must face sanctions.
In August, President Donald Trump has signed a bill to slap new sanctions on Russia which targeted Russia's defense, intelligence, mining, shipping and railway industries and restricted dealings with Russian banks and energy companies. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the law "outrageous" and stressed that new sanctions against Russia is a "shameless" attempt of the United States to promote its economic interests in Europe.
Germany's top diplomat Sigmar Gabriel also criticized anti-Russian sanctions, as according to the minister they can lead to dire consequences for energy supplies in Germany since sanctions affect Russian pipelines.
READ MORE: US Sanctions Bill: How Trump Administration Misread Russia
Directive 4 was introduced in 2014 after the eruption of the Ukrainian crisis and Crimea's decision to rejoin Russia. The document targets 283 companies, including Gazprom, Rosneft, LUKoil, and Surgutneftegaz. The restrictions affect projects launched after January 29 or earlier contracts that are amended, renewed or prolonged.