New Jersey’s senior US Senator is calling on the Committee on Foreign Investment to review a potential majority Russian stake in one the country’s ten largest oil companies.
Senator Bob Menendez says the Venezuelan owned oil company Citgo is currently at risk of a Russian takeover. Its all due to the economic crisis in the country which could result in a default on its debt to Russia, leaving the oil giant, which owns 48 petroleum terminals in 20 states and nearly nine U.S. based oil pipelines, under Russian control.
“We can not give Putin any opening to affect the flow of oil or toy with American prices at the pump and we can not play Russian roulette with Americas energy infrastructure, the risk to our national security and economy is one I’m not willing to take.”
Menendez says, given Russia’s track record of playing petro-politics and it’s recent meddling in the U.S. Election, the last thing the U.S. should be doing is handing the Kremlin control of a major energy supplier.
