Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Oil and gas |
Founded | January 2014 |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | North America, China |
Key people | John Houghtaling II co-founder & CEO [1] |
Products | |
Website | www |
American Ethane Company, LLC (AEC) is the largest producer of ethane in the United States. It is a Houston, Texas, based American petroleum company established in January 2014 with offices in New Orleans. It is privately held with large investments from Russian oligarchs who are close to Vladimir Putin's inner circle. [2]
As of July 2018, Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev have a combined 88% stake in American Ethane and Alexander Voloshin has a secret 2.5% share worth $1.25 million in 2014 under an AV SPV in the remaining 12%. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [lower-alpha 1] Also in July 2018, Houghtaling confirmed that Alexander Abramov, who is Roman Abramovich's partner in Evraz, is an investor in American Ethane. [2] Beginning in January 2014, Roman Abramovich was an investor with American Ethane but left in April 2017. [2]
John Houghtaling II, a co-founder, is the CEO. [7]
James Glickenhaus and J. M. “Jim” Collingsworth serve on the Board of Directors. [8]
In January 2014, Roman Abramovich through his Millhouse LLC, which is a Moscow-based asset management company, signed an agreement at the John Houghtaling II house in New Orleans and made a $50 million investment in the American Ethane Company but backed out in late 2015 after the Russian intervention in Ukraine and the Russian annexation of Crimea because of sanctions against Russia. [6] Nikolaev's investment was pivotal to keep American Ethane from becoming insolvent which would force a bankruptcy. [6] In April 2017, Abramovich recouped $21 million to his Eucla Investments Ltd for the debt owed to Abramovich from Houghtaling of American Ethane. [2] [6]
Since 2015, American Ethane has aggressively increased its market share in China receiving more than 7.2 million tons of ethane per year for power generation in General Electric plants. [9]
Announced on November 9, 2017, during the U.S.-China Business Exchange attended by both President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the Nanshan Group of China agreed to a $26 billion 20-year trade deal to receive liquid ethane from American Ethane. [5] [6] [10] [11] The agreement occurred in June 2017. [7] China will cracker the ethane into ethylene, which is used to make plastics. [12] The United States is the largest supplier of ethane in the world. [12] Houghtaling stated that his main competition for ethane to China is from Russia and Vladimir Putin. [2]
In 2018, American Ethane began constructing the largest United States export terminal for ethane on the Gulf Coast. [5] [7] [9] The Energy & Minerals Group (EMG), established in Houston by John T. Raymond in 2006, [13] [14] is co-developing the 10 million ton per year ethane port. [9] Construction is to be completed by 2020. [7] When this port is completed, Houghtaling expects to export more than 7.2 million tons of ethane from this port to China annually which is double the total United States exports of ethane in 2017. [2]
As of July 2018, American Ethane has contracts totaling $72 billion over 20 years to export ethane from the United States Gulf Coast to China. [2]
From April 2014 to January 2015 Haley Barbour's BGR Group received $220,000 and lobbied through Ed Rogers, Walker Roberts, Lauren Monroe and Erskine Wells for American Ethane, but were replaced in October 2017 with Lindsay Sander from Austin Texas-based Sander Resources and Kyle Ruckert from Louisiana-based Bold Strategies. [15] [16] [17]
From January 1, 2017, to July 28, 2018, American Ethane made numerous political contributions to Conservative Louisiana, Bill Cassidy, Mike Johnson, John Kennedy, Garret Graves, Scalise Leadership Fund, and Pelican PAC. [18]
Since at least 20% of the ownership of American Ethane is foreign, American Ethane lobbyists, which is the BGR Group, must declare that they are lobbying for foreign interests; however, the BGR Group has never disclosed this. [16] This disclosure to both Congress and the Department of Justice is required by federal law under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and operating as an unregistered agent of foreign interests is a felony offense under FARA, with a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. [16] [19]
Further, the lobbyists for American Ethane, which is registered as a Texas firm, have made large political contributions, which are legal, to influence Louisiana politicians although American Ethane's large expansion and development project is in Texas. [16]
Also, Voloshin, Abramovich or Abramov have never been listed as investors by American Ethane's website nor by its publications although these foreigners have significant interests in American Ethane. [16]
Finally, Konstantin Nikolaev is a partner and close associate of Vladimir Putin's inner circle through Igor Levitin, Alexey Mordashov, Arkady Rotenberg, and Gennady Timchenko. [16] [20]
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian businessman and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the primary owner of the private investment company Millhouse. He has Russian, Israeli and Portuguese citizenship.
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli tycoon. He is one of the co-founders of Alfa-Group, a multinational Russian conglomerate. According to Forbes, he was the second-richest Russian as of 2013, moving down to ninth-richest Russian in 2023. In May 2017, he was also ranked as Russia's most important businessman by bne IntelliNews. In February 2024, Fridman had a net worth of $13.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin is a Russian businessman. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s.
John Vincent Weber is an American politician, lobbyist and former Republican Congressman from Minnesota.
Russian oligarchs are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The failing Soviet state left the ownership of state assets contested, which allowed for informal deals with former USSR officials as a means to acquire state property.
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska is a Russian oligarch and billionaire. Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He is the founder of Basic Element, one of Russia's largest industrial groups, and Volnoe Delo, Russia's largest charitable foundation. He was the president of En+ Group, a Russian energy company, and headed United Company Rusal, the second-largest aluminum company in the world, until he quit both roles in 2018.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a United States law that imposes public disclosure obligations on persons representing foreign interests. It requires "foreign agents"—defined as individuals or entities engaged in domestic lobbying or advocacy for foreign governments, organizations, or persons —to register with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and disclose their relationship, activities, and related financial compensation.
Alexander Stalyevich Voloshin is a Russian politician who briefly was chairman of the board of directors of RAO UES, the former Russian state power utility, which was liquidated as part of the country's comprehensive power sector reforms on 1 July 2008. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
Igor Ivanovich Sechin is a Russian oligarch and a government official, considered a close ally and "de facto deputy" of Vladimir Putin.
Richard R. Burt is an American businessman and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Germany and was a chief negotiator of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Prior to his diplomatic career, Burt worked as director of a non-governmental organization and from 1977 to 1980 was a national security correspondent for The New York Times.
John Houghtaling is an American attorney and oil and gas executive. In 2014, Houghtaling's career was featured on an episode of Inside Man with Morgan Spurlock. He is currently the CEO of an oil and gas export company, American Ethane and is the majority owner of the law firm of Gauthier, Murphy & Houghtaling.
BGR Group is a lobbying and communications firm based in Washington, D.C., with offices in London, Beijing and Austin, Texas. Founded in 1991 by former White House aides Ed Rogers and Haley Barbour, the firm was joined by Lanny Griffith to form Barbour Griffith & Rogers. In 2019, BGR was recognized by both The Hill and Bloomberg as a "Top Performing Lobbying Firm".
International sanctions have been imposed against Russia and Crimea during the Russo-Ukrainian War by a large number of countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, and international organisations following the Russian annexation of Crimea, which began in late February 2014. Belarus has also been sanctioned for its cooperation with and assistance to Russian armed forces. The sanctions were imposed against individuals, businesses, and officials from Russia and Ukraine. Russia responded with sanctions against several countries, including a total ban on food imports from Australia, Canada, Norway, Japan, the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom.
Nord Stream 2 is a 1,234-kilometre-long (767 mi) natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany running through the Baltic Sea, financed by Gazprom and several European energy companies. Feasibility studies began in 2011 to expand the Nord Stream 1 line and double annual capacity to 110 billion cubic metres, with construction beginning in 2018. It was completed in September 2021, but has not yet entered service. Planning and construction of the pipeline were mired in political controversy over fears that Russia would use it, one of 23 pipelines between Europe and Russia, for geopolitical advantage with Europe and Ukraine.
Donald Trump has pursued business deals in Russia since 1987, and has repeatedly traveled there to explore potential business opportunities. In 1996, Trump trademark applications were submitted for potential Russian real estate development deals. Trump, his children, and his partners have repeatedly visited Russia, connecting with real estate developers and Russian government officials to explore joint venture opportunities. Trump was never able to successfully conclude any real estate deals in Russia. However, individual Russians have invested heavily in Trump properties, and, following Trump's bankruptcies in the 1990s, he borrowed money from Russian sources. Both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have said that Russia was an important source of money for the Trump businesses.
This is a timeline of events related to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) is a United States federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The bill was passed by the Senate on July 27, 2017, 98–2, after it passed the House 419–3. It was signed into law on August 2, 2017, by President Donald Trump, who nevertheless believed that the legislation was "seriously flawed".
Konstantin Yuryevich Nikolaev is a Russian billionaire and businessman who is a financial supporter of Maria Butina, a co-owner of the Tula Cartridge Plant that supplies very large amounts of ammunition to Russian forces during Russia-Ukraine War, American Ethane, N-Trans and Globaltrans, the largest private rail operator in Russia, CIS, and the Baltic states. He is only under sanctions by Ukraine. According to the Forbes, in 2019 Nikolaev's net worth was estimated at $1.2 billion.
Alexander Semenovich Vinokurov is a Russian businessman. He is one of the main owners of the privately held investment company Marathon Group and the largest shareholder of retailer Magnit. Vinokurov was added to the EU Sanctions List on 9 March 2022 for providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The unfriendly countries list is a list of countries published by the Russian government that it says "commit unfriendly actions against Russia, Russian companies and citizens". Countries added to the list are subject to certain restrictions related to their relationships with Russia, including trade and currency restrictions and personnel limits in the listed countries' diplomatic missions in Russia.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)