WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Senator John McCain said in a statement that Exxon Mobil must be mentally unstable to apply for a waiver from US sanctions on Russia to resume its business with the Russian oil giant Rosneft.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal citing unnamed sources claimed that Exxon Mobil recently asked the new US administration for permission to drill oil alongside Rosneft in the Black Sea, the area covered by sanctions imposed in the wake of Crimea's reunification with Russia.
"Are they crazy?" McCain said in a Twitter post.
Are they crazy? @WSJ: "Exxon Seeks U.S. Waiver to Resume #Russia Oil Venture" https://t.co/CHKS3sjOa8
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 19, 2017
The joint venture deal between Exxon and Rosneft, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, was struck in 2012 by then-Exxon's CEO and now US State Secretary Rex Tillerson and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the report added.
