Obama hints at tension after hitting Rosneft with sanctions on Russia
Barack Obama has imposed the biggest raft of sanctions on Russia yet over the Ukraine crisis, attacking its energy giant Rosneft, part-owned by BP, and the giant Gazprombank.
Others on the new sanctions list which have UK links include Novatek, the country’s second-biggest gas producer. State-owned bank VEB and eight defence companies including Kalashnikov are also on the list.
The news saw Rosneft shares fall 5%, while Novatek dived 4% and the Russian RTS index of leading shares retreated 3%. BP eased 1% to 502p.
EU leaders also signalled they may expand sanctions on the country as well, but to a lesser extent.
The new US curbs would not appear to prevent Rosneft from selling its oil, but may raise questions about its $15 billion (£8.8 billion) worth of oil-related finance with companies including BP, which owns almost a fifth of Rosneft, and Glencore.
Igor Sechin, Rosneft chief executive, described the sanctions as “unlawful” and said: “This is the wrong way. But I think God sees everything and will put things right.”
Novatek’s shares, like Rosneft’s, trade on the London Stock Exchange. The US Treasury Department said the measures effectively closed medium and long-term dollar funding to the two banks and energy companies.
The sanctions stopped short of Russia’s Gazprom, the provider of much of Europe’s energy supplies.
