Russian gas defies U.S. sanctions to reach New England

[jpak]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/26/russia-gas-sanctions-american-homes-312866

As the Trump administration slaps fresh sanctions on Russian energy companies, a cargo of Russian gas is set to power homes near Boston.

A tanker of liquefied natural gas from a Russian company on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list is scheduled to unload the fuel this weekend, making it the first shipment of gas from the country to ever reach the United States. It’s arriving just after the U.S. announced increased economic penalties Friday against Moscow-linked people and businesses because of Vladimir Putin’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine.

Technically, the gas shipment does not appear to violate the prohibitions that the Obama administration imposed four years ago — it’s owned by a French energy trader and arriving on a French-owned vessel. But it shows the difficulty of enforcing sanctions involving energy cargoes, which can change hands frequently and are often mixed with fuel from multiple locations.

The Treasury Department expanded its sanctions Friday to include 21 people and nine entities in Russia and Ukraine.

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[bluestarone]

1. yea well there not to hot on enforcing them anyhow