US oil major ExxonMobil held secret talks earlier this year with the Kremlin on a possible return to working in Russia, the Wall Street Journal reports

The US company was previously involved in the flagship Sakhalin-1 oil project but quit Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The revelation comes as US President Donald Trump again recently repeated his desire to do business with Russia and admitted that he discussed joint oil and gas projects at the Alaska summit on August 15. He also suggested jointly developing Alaska’s mineral resources.

Trump has been remarkably lenient on Russia since taking office, imposing no new sanctions or tariffs, despite repeated threats to hit Russia hard with new measures as part of the ongoing peace negotiations.

"The Wall Street Journal reported that Exxon has been in contact with Rosneft since 2022 about its Russian assets, with quiet backing from the White House—even under President Joe Biden," The Bell reports. "By 2025, following Donald Trump’s inauguration, these conversations intensified."

Exxon’s interest is not hard to understand. Sakhalin-1, in which Exxon held a 30% stake and operated since 1995, was one of the company’s largest international projects. Before the war, Sakhalin-1 accounted for around 3% of Exxon’s global production. Exxon’s exit in 2022 forced the company to write off $4.6bn. Attempts to sell its stake were blocked by the Kremlin, which later transferred the project to a new operator controlled by state-owned oil major Rosneft.

Now, following the closed doors meeting, the project appears to be back on the table. Negotiations began in earnest after Trump’s return to office.

In February, Exxon Vice President Neil Chapman met informally with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin in Qatar, the WSJ reports and Exxon’s Chief Executive Darren Woods discussed the issue directly with Trump. By the time of the Alaska summit, the two sides had reportedly drawn up a "roadmap" for re-entry.

Putin has also been tempting Trump with deals. He opened the door to the return of Western companies in February ordering the government to draw up rules for those that wanted to re-enter the Russian market. He has also invited US companies to jointly develop Russia’s vast critical mineral and rare earth metals (REMs) deposits, the second largest in the world after China’s. Trump has shown a lot of interest in winning mineral mining deals in all the conflicts he has gotten involved with and forced through a minerals deal on Ukraine as part of the ceasefire talks that started in February.

The talks have extended beyond oil. The Wall Street Journal reports that both parties "discussed not only Sakhalin-1, but also the supply of American equipment for Russian LNG projects, as well as the possibility of purchasing Russian nuclear icebreakers." On the same day as the summit in Anchorage, Putin signed a decree enabling the return of foreign partners under improved terms that will directly affect Exxon and smooth its re-entry if it takes the plunge.

While no formal agreement has yet been announced, the overtures point to a broader willingness by some US corporations to engage with Russia. While only 9% of foreign companies working in Russia before the war decided to leave after its outbreak, polls of those that did leave have found none have concrete plans so far to re-enter the market.

"Russian officials have been talking about the desire of foreign businesses to return to Russia since Trump's victory in the 2024 elections," The Bell observed. "But the WSJ article is the first confirmation that big business is not just considering this possibility but is also conducting substantive negotiations."