Stock of ExxonMobil Corporation (ticker: XOM) was up on Monday as controversy emerged over CEO Rex Tillerson’s connections to Russia as the oil executive emerged as a front-runner for secretary of state in President-elect Donald Trump new administration.
Tillerson has spent his career at Exxon, reports CNN Money, and grew with the company as he took the helm of its Russia account. A book by journalist Steve Coll, “Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power,” points to Tillerson’s CEO appointment in 2006 as a result of his Russia connection.
As CEO, Tillerson partnered Exxon with Russian oil company Rosneft, and Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, even went to the signing of the deal in 2011. Both companies wanted to drill for oil in the Arctic, Black Sea deep waters and Siberia. Exxon and Rosneft have made 10 joint ventures.
“It cannot be anything but helpful to broadening the relationship between the American people and the Russian people,” Tillerson had said.
Putin also previously gave Tillerson the Order of Friendship, which is given to foreign citizens who earn “special merits in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding between peoples.”
Igor Sechin, the chairman of Rosneft and at the time the deputy prime minister of Russia, touted the deal as “more ambitious than man’s first walk in space or sending a man to the moon” in 2012. He also said Rosneft’s valuation rose $7 billion in five days following the deal signing.
When speaking to industry analysts earlier this year, Tillerson answered a question about the company’s interest in a rekindled Rosneft partnership. “We are very anxious to get back to work there,” he said.
As secretary of state, Tillerson would have a significant voice in a government that has recently imposed sanctions on Moscow. For instance, penalties imposed by the U.S. and the European Union after Russia annexed Crimea and intervened in the Ukraine in 2014 cost Exxon up to $1 billion in potential losses.
Trump’s interest in Tillerson and the CEO’s emergency as a front-runner as the nation’s top diplomat comes as a CIA report blamed Russia for meddling in the U.S. election. Trump has also been scrutinized for his Russian business dealings and his public admiration of the Russian leader.
Back in 2013, Trump tweeted: “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow — if so, will he become my new best friend?”
Trump returned to Twitter Monday morning to discount the CIA report. “Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!”
Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican, criticized the potential pick in a Fox News interview, notes The Hill.
“I don’t know what Mr. Tillerson’s relationship with Vladimir Putin was, but I’ll tell you it is a matter of concern to me,” McCain said.
“You want to give the president of the United States the benefit of the doubt because the people have spoken,” McCain added. “But Vladimir Putin is a thug, bully and a murderer, and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying.”
Senior Democrat and Republican senators have also spoken up, as has Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who ran against Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, reports Reuters. He tweeted, “Being a ‘friend of Vladimir’ is not an attribute I am hoping for from a #SecretaryOfState.”
Alexey Pushkov, who serves in the lower house of Russian parliament leading the foreign affairs committee, tweeted his support of Tillerson, calling the pick a “sensation.”
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ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson Has Ties to Russia, Putin originally appeared on usnews.com
