January 19, 2021, 10:49 AM)
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control says that Exxon Mobil must pay a $2 million penalty for allegedly violating sanctions on Russia.
Last October ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods delivered news to his staff that he had hoped to avoid: the company had been hit hard enough by low prices and the Coronavirus downturn that it would have to cut employees.
This came after the Texas-based oil major and once the third largest company in the world had reported three straight quarters of losses totalling more than $1 billion. Throughout 2020, as oil prices fell to historic lows, ExxonMobil slashed spending, halted some international projects, and eventually announced it would cut 700 employees from its Houston workforce.