Earlier this month, news leaked that ExxonMobil was pushing the Treasury Department to grant it a sanctions waiver, which would allow the company to resume its joint venture Black Sea drilling operations with Russian oil giant Rosneft.
The Treasury Department has since denied the waiver application, as waivers are granted for humanitarian and policy reasons, not for business reasons—which was ExxonMobil’s case. Granting the waiver would have fueled concerns about the Trump administration’s relationship with Putin’s Russia, all the more so as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was ExxonMobil’s CEO when the waiver was initially submitted.
Even though the administration was right to deny the waiver, waivers are a vital part of the sanctions process. They help governments target sanctions effectively, giving them flexibility to respond to changing circumstances on the ground.
