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Santander, Lloyds Implicated in Helping Iranian Entity Sidestep Western Sanctions
02/11/2024
A state-owned petrochemical company from Iran was operating from an office located near Buckingham Palace.
Reports suggest that Santander UK and Lloyds Banking Group, two big UK banks, are involved in managing accounts for companies that reportedly helped Iranian organizations avoid US sanctions. These banks are said to have supported companies linked to an Iranian petrochemical company, which has been facing sanctions from Western countries since 2018.
The Financial Times obtained a document indicating that Lloyds and Santander UK offered banking services to UK-based companies owned by the Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC), which was sanctioned by the US in 2018. The sanctions were due to claims of PCC funding the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and collaborating with russian intelligence. PCC's UK branch was also sanctioned but kept operating in London, maintaining a complex network of companies in the UK and abroad to disguise its real ownership.
“Santander is not in breach of US sanctions based on our investigation. We have policies and procedures in place to ensure we comply with sanctions requirements and will continue to engage proactively with relevant UK and US authorities,” Santander said in the message.
Lloyds is also disputing the allegations detailed in the FT report.
“This is, frankly, a shocking failure to act in lockstep with our allies to shut down the financing of a hostile regime. It beggars belief that a business sanctioned by the US is freely trading in London.”
- Liam Byrne, Labour MP and chair of the business and trade committee
These documents revealed that PCC managed to receive money from related companies in China while hiding the true owners using legal agreements and nominee directors. For example, a company named Pisco UK, located at a house in Surrey and banking with Santander UK, and another company, Aria Associates, which banks with Lloyds, were part of this network.
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From Peanuts to Richest Oil Tycoon in America: Autry Stephens Built an Empire, his net worth is...
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Bakken's Tipping Point: Grayson Mill's Potential Fall After Chevron-Hess
The Permian Basin, a big oil area, is not seeing as many deals as before because lots of companies have already joined together. Now, experts think these companies might start looking for new places to invest in the U.S. One area getting attention is the Bakken play. Chevron Corp. has just made a big step there by buying Hess Corp. for $60 billion. Another company, Grayson Mill Energy, which got some help from a Houston investment firm EnCap Investments LP, might also be up for sale soon, worth about $5 billion.
OXY has been the leader in Permian Basin production for the past five years. Currently, the Houston-based oil and gas company is deepening its presence in the basin with a $12 billion acquisition of CrownRock, adding over 94,000 acres in the Midland Basin and increasing its oil output by about 170,000 barrels per day. Occidental announced an increase in its proved reserves to 4.0 billion barrels of oil equivalent by the end of December 2023, up from 3.8 billion the previous year. Activities in the Permian largely fueled this rise. Occidental added approximately 303 million barrels through infill development projects as well as new discoveries and the further development of existing fields brought in another 153 million barrels.
TotalEnergies kicked off 2024 with a net income of $5.7 billion in the first quarter, marking a modest 3% increase from the same period last year and a 13% rise from the previous quarter. This growth occurred despite experiencing drops in both the volume and price of gas sales over the year and the quarter. Their adjusted net earnings, which exclude one-time or unusual items, were $5.1 billion. This represents a significant 22% decline compared to last year and a slight 2% drop from the last quarter. The company's earnings before tax, depreciation, and amortization reached $11.5 billion, while their cash flow from operations significantly decreased to $2.2 billion, falling by 58% from last year and a steep 87% from the previous quarter. TotalEnergies also recorded $644 million in impairments.
New Mexico leads the Rockies region in gas production and ranks as the sixth-largest in terms of active gas wells in the U.S. Last year, the state's gas well count slightly increased by 0.2% to 30,699, with new additions in both the northwestern San Juan Basin and the southeastern Permian Basin. Meanwhile, just to the north in Colorado, gas producers grew by a modest 0.1% to 30,322, primarily due to increased drilling activity in the DJ and Piceance basins. Wyoming saw a decline in its active gas wells by 3.7%, down to 17,006, with production mainly in Sublette, Sweetwater, and Converse counties reflecting stable or slightly reduced drilling activity. Utah also experienced a slight decrease of 0.2% in its number of gas wells, totaling 6,463. In Q1 2024, oil and gas industry activity in Oklahoma, Colorado, and northern New Mexico experienced a decline. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction in drilling and business activities within these regions. According to a survey that included responses from 33 firms operating in the Rockies, this downtrend is expected to continue over the next six months.