Russia’s Rosneft Boss Slams U.S. ‘Energy Colonialism’

The United States is using energy as a political weapon and its ‘golden era’ of energy could turn out to be an ‘era of energy colonialism’ for all other market participants, Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft, said at a forum in Russia on Thursday.

There is no doubt that the U.S. is using energy as a political weapon on a mass scale, Sechin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum today, as posted on Rosneft’s website.

mposing sanctions or even the threat of sanctions have a destructive effect on the global energy ecosystem, Sechin said, criticizing America’s approach to energy dominance.

“The golden era of American energy is now underway,” U.S. President Donald Trump said last month, while U.S. officials have started to refer to the U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as “freedom gas.”

The United States has long been accusing Russia of using energy, especially pipeline Russian gas to Europe, as a political weapon.   

Now the head of Russia’s biggest oil producer and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin is returning the favor by accusing the U.S. of wanting to suppress competitors and pariah states by imposing sanctions.

The Texas oil boom was the result of new sanctions that the U.S. slapped on Iran and Venezuela, sharply reducing their respective oil production, Sechin said, noting that as much as 2.5 million bpd of oil production could be subject to sanctions this year, up from 1.5 million bpd in 2018.

In order to have further growth in Texas, the U.S. may need to find a “new sanctions victim” and remove its oil supply from the market in order to replace it with Texas oil, Rosneft’s boss said, adding that “Any oil producing country could be that victim.”

Earlier this week, Sechin—who has criticized Russia’s involvement in the OPEC+ deal in the past—questioned the Russian rationale of sticking to the cuts, saying that the U.S. would take market share away from of Russia if the OPEC/non-OPEC deal is extended.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

• How Oil Defeated The Nazis
  
• A ‘’Gusher Of Red Ink’’ For U.S. Shale
  
• New Infrastructure Could Spur Gas Demand Boost In China