ExxonMobil’s Russian door remains ajar

While the US oil major has declined to return given the sensitivities over Ukraine, Sakhalin 1 and other energy projects are temptations that will not go away

Will ExxonMobil accept President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to return to Russia? That question would have seemed absurd two years ago: could ExxonMobil, the most prominent Western oil major to walk away from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, really return while the war still rages? And yet in August, Putin signed a decree offering foreign shareholders, including ExxonMobil, the chance to reclaim their stakes in Sakhalin 1—the Far Eastern oil and gas project ExxonMobil once pioneered. Then came reports from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that ExxonMobil executives and Rosneft officials had held discreet talks in Doha on a possible return, contingent on government approvals and a diplomati