Oil Services Company Settles Cuba Sanctions Case

Oil Services Company Settles Cuba Sanctions Case
By SAMUEL RUBENFELD

CGG Services SA, a French company that provides services and spare parts
for oil and gas exploration and seismic surveys, agreed to pay $614,250
to settle alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

According to an enforcement notice posted by the U.S. Department of
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, CGG and its local
affiliates exported U.S.-origin items to ships while those vessels
operated in Cuban waters. CGG owns the M/V Veritas Vantage, a seismic
research vessel to which it exported some of the items cited in the OFAC
enforcement notice, OFAC alleged.

In addition, the U.S. alleged that a Venezuelan subsidiary engaged in
five transactions, at the request of the French parent company,
involving the processing of data from seismic surveys in Cuba that
benefited a Cuban company.

A representative from CGG in the U.S. didn't immediately respond to a
request for comment.

The company didn't voluntarily self-disclose the violations to OFAC, the
notice said. It "acted with reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions
requirements," the notice said, by exporting U.S.-origin goods to Cuban
waters, "especially after its U.S. affiliate informed it that such
exports could be a violation of U.S. sanctions."

However, the notice said CGG "substantially cooperated" with the
investigation, adjusted its supply procedures to minimize the risk of
future sanctions violations and took some steps to avoid OFAC violations
as part of its compliance program.

Write to Samuel Rubenfeld at Samuel.Rubenfeld@wsj.com. Follow him on
Twitter at @srubenfeld.

Source: Oil Services Company Settles Cuba Sanctions Case - Risk &
Compliance - WSJ -
http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2016/02/22/oil-services-company-settles-cuba-sanctions-case/