Seems to me that Russia is planning something really big against the US.

[suffragette]

46. Goodbye ANWR. Hello joint U.S. and Russia arctic drilling and increased global warming.

Why plan something against the U.S. when the pieces are now in place for accords and joint actions that U.S. CEOs and Russian oligarchs have been pushing for?

Sanctions interfered with those plans. With Republicans in control of all branches, that will likely change.

No worries for them about pesky regulation since all Trump appointees are for deregulation and either deny climate change or in the case of Tillerson, acknowledge it's real, but maintain that we will just need to adjust to new realities.

Previously, they were just aiming for drilling on the Russian side. Now they can exploit both sides in a joint venture.


https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-10-12/exxon-mobil-suffers-from-russia-u-s-tensions

Tillerson had spent time in the 1990s overseeing a flagship Exxon project in Russia. And he flew there in 2011 to meet with Putin and announce a strategic partnership with Rosneft, the national oil company that absorbed Yukos' main assets after Khodorkovsky was thrown in jail.The two companies were to jointly develop potentially massive oil reserves in Russia's Arctic waters, the Black Sea, and Siberian unconventional resources. Putin spoke of investments from the deal eventually reaching perhaps $500 billion -- a big number even for Exxon. No sooner had the venture struck oil beneath the Kara Sea, though, than Exxon was forced to down tools as U.S. sanctions over the Ukraine crisis kicked in.

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What Exxon, like any major, really seeks are very large, oil-focused prospects that play to its strengths, where reserves can be booked periodically to top up the tank and high upfront costs can be defrayed over decades of production. In other words, exactly what Russia potentially offered. Whether focusing on such mega-projects is a good way to go is debatable, but for now that is Exxon's way. And the company's judgment on this score has notably been called into question this year. For example, as Wolfe Research analyst Paul Sankey has pointed out, the cut to Exxon's triple-A credit rating by Standard & Poor's was directly linked to concerns around the huge spending required to replace its reserves.

Never forget - money makes their world go 'round.