Maximilian Hess, AKE’s Head of Political Risk, was quoted in the Financial Times’ writeup of new sanctions introduced by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Russian state oil company Rosneft’s Trading arm, which has become the key conduit for Venezuela to export oil. The article is available to subscribers here.
The relevant section reads:
Maximilian Hess, head of political risk at AKE Group, said: “Any sanctions activity on any part of the Rosneft group will impact its operations, and cause a lot of headaches for counterparties. Sanctions just affecting Rosneft Trading will impact refiners in Europe dealing with the firm.” But Mr Hess said he did not think the measures would affect other Rosneft projects abroad, such as its work in Kurdistan or the Zohr gasfields. Rosneft was already under sectoral sanctions that limit debt financing to 60 days, and Mr Hess said the market had grown used to that, which could limit the shock. Mr Hess added that Venezuela’s debt to Rosneft had fallen sharply in recent months as the Russian company had sought to recoup its money. From $4.8bn in late 2017 it has fallen to $800m at the end of the third quarter, with Rosneft set to announce its full-year results tomorrow.
