Exxon’s $700 Million Russian Arctic Oil Well Hangs on Sanctions

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s work on a $700 million Arctic well in Russia could be stopped before it’s finished under new U.S. and European Union sanctions that outlaw the drilling partnership.

New sanctions ban U.S. and EU companies from working with Russian officials or companies to find or produce crude from deep seas, shale fields or the Arctic. The decrees, reported earlier this week by Bloomberg, were imposed today, the 35th day of drilling at the 9 billion-barrel Universitetskaya prospect off Russia’s northern coast that was scheduled to last for 70 days.