ExxonMobil Charged for Sudan Sanctions Breach

By Catherine Hunter, Global Insight Daily Analysis.

Aug 30, 2005 — ExxonMobil has been fined US$49,500 for breaching US unilateral sanctions against Sudan, in relation to re-exporting computers and related hardware to the country. Oil Daily reported that the exports were made by Mobil Oil Corp. between June 1999 and February 2000, around the time of the company’s merger with Exxon at end-1999.

The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) reported that the company has voluntarily disclosed the breaches and co-operated fully in the investigation, mitigating the penalties involved.

Significance: Increased US regulatory and campaign pressure on companies operating in Sudan has spurred a number of energy players to limit their exposure to the country, despite apparent warming at the political level in the wake of the North-South peace deal. ExxonMobil’s disclosure gets some credit here from the campaigners, at a reasonably low cost compared with the potential impact of a public campaign.