52 Bipartisan Congressmembers Urge Biden Administration to Tighten Russian Oil Sanctions and Question Exception Approval
Contact: Alexis Torres, Alexis.Torres@mail.house.gov
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Representatives Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37) and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA-4) led a bipartisan effort to demand a tightening of Russian oil sanctions and to question an exception granted to a U.S.-based company, Schlumberger (SLB). Specifically, the lawmakers are questioning Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary Antony Blinken as to why the Biden administration has permitted SLB to serve as an accomplice to Vladimir Putin.
“We write regarding alarming findings that the U.S.-based company and world’s largest oilfield services firm SLB, widely known as Schlumberger, is expanding in Russia,” wrote the members. “Since Russia’s unjustified and illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, SLB has signed new contracts, recruited hundreds of staff, and imported nearly $18 million in equipment into Russia. This U.S.-based company is keeping Vladimir Putin’s war machine well-oiled with financing for the barbaric invasion of Ukraine. We urge you to continue supporting our Ukrainian allies by pursuing more rigorous oil sanctions to effectively restrict Putin’s profits.”
“My name is on the first sanctions legislation to become law shortly after the Russian invasion,” said Rep. Doggett. “Implementation of that and similar legislation by our allies has not prevented Putin from earning billions from oil exports. And unfortunately, North Korea and Iran are not the only places providing him help. By permitting his exports and permitting continued American company investments in Russia, Americans, and our European allies, are essentially funding both sides of this war. While well aware of concerns about the price of gasoline at the pump, we must stop oiling the Putin war machine to win this war, secure a just peace, and reparations.”
"While Ukrainians fight and die on the front lines of freedom, a U.S. oil company is supporting the enemy," said Rep. Auchincloss. "Oil is the lifeblood of the Russian war economy, which is why the West must stand united in tightening and enforcing oil sanctions. That begins by holding SLB and its collaborators accountable for evading allied sanctions, profiteering from pain, and fueling Putin's ability to wage war.”
Additional signers include Representatives Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Wiley Nickel (NC-13), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Danny Davis (IL-07), Jim Costa (CA-21), Sean Casten (IL-06), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Adam Schiff (CA-30), Susan Wild (PA-07), Joe Wilson (R-SC-02), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Tom Suozzi (NY-03), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Nikema Williams (GA-05), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Earl Blumenaur (OR-03), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Patrick Ryan (NY-18), Chris Smith (R-NJ-04), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Don Bacon (R-NE-02), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Jerry Nadler (NY-12), Annie Kuster (NH-02), Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Ted Lieu (CA-36), John Larson (CT-01), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), David Trone (MD-06), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Bennie Thompson (MS-02) and Ro Khanna (CA-17).
The full letter can be found here.
Rep. Doggett is a strong champion for a prosperous Ukraine, consistently urging Congress and the Biden administration to take further actions in holding Putin accountable and ensuring full support for a Ukrainian victory. In 2022, the morning after Putin launched his unprovoked and illegal invasion, Rep. Doggett filed the first sanctions legislation, which later became law, to prohibit the direct import of energy products from Russia into the United States. The following year, he introduced the bipartisan Ending Importation of Laundered Russian Oil Act to close a “refining loophole” that allows Russian oil to be laundered through third-party countries and sold in the U.S. as gasoline and other petroleum products—therefore linking American consumers to financing parts of Putin’s war machine. In recent months, Rep. Doggett expanded his efforts to prevent Russia from continuing to profit off Western countries by publishing an opinion piece in Foreign Policy, calling for U.S. sanctions against a network of companies associated with Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear corporation.