Russia and Exxon Make Deal To Carve Up Arctic For Oil

It's a good thing Russia isn't full of Commie Rooskies anymore, and is instead ruled with an iron fist by a fascist kleptocracy -- America's biggest energy company just cut a deal with Russia's state-run oil company to kill off the last polar bears and get the sweet, sweet crude under the rapidly melting ice cap. Who wants some "relief at the pump"?

TheWall Street Journal  just posted this deadpan report:  

Exxon Mobil Corp. and OAO Rosneft, the state-controlled Russian oil giant, reached a sweeping strategic alliance Tuesday that will give the U.S. titan access to potentially huge oil fields in the Arctic Sea and Rosneft stakes in Exxon projects in the U.S. The deal comes just months after the collapse of Rosneft's planned Arctic tie-up with BP PLC.

The deal, signed in the presence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his vacation residence on the Black Sea, is a big win for Exxon as it competes with other international oil players for increasingly scarce new fields. The pact also is a success for Kremlin oil czar Igor Sechin, who has sought to woo back big foreign oil companies whose technologies are vital to developing the next generation of Russian oilf ields. The alliance with Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, will give Rosneft international exposure that it has long sought to bring it closer to the top league of global oil companies.

"This large-scale partnership represents a significant strategic step by both companies," Exxon Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

[ Wall Street Journal ]