Russian Oil Company Hopes to Leverage Iran's Experience in Easing European Sanctions

Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, hopes to benefit from the experience of European court decisions that exempted some Iranian banks from EU sanctions. Since 2014, Rosneft has been subject to retaliatory sanctions from the US and Europe following President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea. The company's CEO, Igor Sechin, a close ally of the Russian president, is also under these sanctions. According to Reuters, US and European sanctions have complicated investment attraction for this state-owned company and hindered cooperation with Western firms for the development of deep-water reserves, shale oil resources, and polar reserves. Notably, this includes a major joint investment with American company ExxonMobil. After the European Court of Justice announced that the matter could be pursued in Brussels, Rosneft is attempting to lift EU sanctions through the General Court. Rosneft is challenging the legality of the sanctions, stating that the General Court has previously lifted some sanctions against Iranian banks. This decision was later confirmed by the European Court of Justice. Rosneft claims that Iranian banks successfully challenged sanctions imposed due to Iran's nuclear program, as there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the banks, and the European court concluded that the banks' activities were not related to Iran's nuclear program. Therefore, Rosneft hopes that the sanctions imposed on Russia due to tensions with Ukraine will be similar to the situation of Iran's sanctions. The company has stated that it has not engaged in any illegal actions and has no connection to the Ukraine crisis. In 2014, the European Court of Justice overturned the EU court's ruling to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank related to Tehran's nuclear program. Last year, Bank Mellat also succeeded in convincing the court that its assets should not be blocked and that its operations were unrelated to the nuclear program. Soroush Zivala, a lawyer for Bank Mellat in the case against the EU, indicated that similar cases exist in Rosneft's situation. He stated that the EU has so far been unable to find evidence of Rosneft's involvement or support in the Ukraine crisis. Last month, Rosneft signed a cooperation agreement with the National Iranian South Oil Company and is also negotiating with Iran regarding gas swaps.