Reuters: The USA and Russia discussed energy deals as incentive for peace in Ukraine

This month, the US and Russian governments have been discussing several energy deals as part of talks to end the war in Ukraine. They have been offered to the Kremlin as an incentive to agree to peace in Ukraine and for Washington to ease sanctions against Russia.

Reuters reports this, citing five sources familiar with the negotiations.

The American and Russian sides discussed the possibility of private US oil corporation “Exxon Mobil” (XOM.N) rejoining the Russian oil and gas project Sakhalin-1.

In addition, the possibility of Russia purchasing American equipment for its liquefied natural gas projects, such as Arctic LNG 2, which is subject to sanctions, was considered.

Citing a source, the agency notes that Washington wants Russia to buy American, not Chinese, technology in order to weaken ties between China and Moscow.

Reuters reports that the talks took place during a trip by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow in early August, where he met with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and his special investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev. The ideas were also discussed at the White House with the US President Donald Trump.

In addition, these potential energy deals were briefly discussed during a three-on-three US-Russia meeting in Alaska on August 15, attended by Trump and Putin.

“The White House really wanted to make a big announcement about a big investment deal after the Alaska summit,” one of the sources said.

• Reuters also notes that on the day of the summit in Alaska, Putin signed a decree that could allow foreign investors, including “Exxon Mobil”, to restore stakes in the “Sakhalin-1” project. The agency notes that this will happen if foreign shareholders help lift Western sanctions against Russia. “Exxon” exited its business in Russia in 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine, and then suffered losses of $4.6 billion. Its 30% stake in the operator of the “Sakhalin-1” project in the Far East was confiscated by the Kremlin the same year.
• The US has imposed several waves of sanctions on the Arctic LNG 2 project, starting in 2022, blocking access to icebreakers needed to operate in the region for most of the year. The project is owned largely by Russian gas company “Novatek”, which last year began working with lobbyists in Washington to try to repair relations and lift sanctions.
• The Arctic LNG 2 plant resumed natural gas processing in April, albeit at a low level. This year, five batches of gas have already been loaded onto sanctioned tankers. However, it is also known that one of the production units was previously stopped because of difficulties with exports due to sanctions. The project envisaged three LNG processing lines. A third line is currently being planned, the technology for which is to be supplied from China.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.