This Would Not Have Happened On Trump's Watch -- December 19, 2016

This is what happens when a US president is anti-oil; inexperienced negotiating business deals; afraid of international confrontations; etc., etc. From Platts:

Russian and Japanese companies Friday signed a number of memoranda and agreements on cooperation in hydrocarbons development during the first visit to Japan in 11 years by a Russian president.

The agreements included joint exploration offshore Sakhalin, technological and financial collaboration in oil, gas and LNG, and established a mutual fund for such projects.

The documents -- 23 of them energy-related -- signed in the presence of President Vladimir Putin and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, include three Japanese companies joining Rosneft in hydrocarbons exploration offshore Sakhalin, expanding LNG partnership with Gazprom and Novatek, opening a credit line for Yamal LNG plant and setting up a mutual fund, among other agreements.

With a total of more than 80 projects outlined and signed off, the collaboration entered a level "unprecedented in the history of Russia-Japan relations," Abe said in a briefing following the signing ceremony in Tokyo, adding the countries can have "a win-win economic partnership."

With Moscow's turn to Asia in search of investors in light of western sanctions targeting the country's energy sector among other areas since 2014, Japan has been conspicuously absent from new deals, while companies from China and India signed numerous agreements to enter the Russian upstream.

Ties with Japan have been complicated by a long-lasting territorial dispute over the four Kuril Islands, as well as by Japan joining sanctions, even if in the form of milder restrictions not preventing its companies from taking an active role in oil exploration and production in Russia.

Actually, I'm being a bit harsh on the incumbent. This is a win-win for everyone. Japan no longer claims any of Sakhalin, so this is quite a big deal for Japan. But, then, of course, it begs the question: sanctions on Russia? What sanctions? One would have thought Japan was an ally.

And, of course, as the US pulls away from global warming policies under the new president, there will likewise be a snowball effect as other nations realize that without the US taking the lead, they cannot afford to go it alone.

Maybe I'm making too much of this or maybe I'm seeing things that aren't there or connecting apples and oranges, but the headline story caught me attention. I'll throw it out there but won't spend much time on it one way or the other. But I would rather see Abe making deals with ExxonMobil and Chevron than with Putin. Just saying.

Wouldn't it be great for the United States to have a "rex tillerson" negotiating business deals with the rest of the world?