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By Richard Cowan and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. oil and gasindustry is lobbying against tighter sanctions on Russia thatcould impact U.S. investments there, congressional sources saidon Friday.
The U.S. Senate has revived a bill, called DETER, that wouldallow for swift sanctions if Moscow was found meddling in futureU.S. elections. Both Democrats and Republicans are looking toredress what they consider President Donald Trump's weak stanceon accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 election whenhe met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Top U.S. energy company Exxon Mobil is among thefirms that have previously opposed U.S. sanctions on Russia.Opponents claim sanctions unfairly penalize U.S. companies whileallowing foreign energy rivals such as Royal Dutch Shelland BP to operate in the world's biggest oilproducer.
Western powers imposed sanctions in 2014 after Russia'sannexation of Crimea.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told Reuters on Fridaythere was growing bipartisan support for his DETER bill.
When asked whether energy industry lobbyists were eitheropposing the bill or seeking revisions, Van Hollen said that "arange of issues need to be discussed including ... ones relatedto U.S. and European energy projects."
Van Hollen said that while he was willing to address"reasonable concerns" from industry representatives and otherlawmakers, the legislation needed to be robust enough todiscourage Moscow from meddling in future U.S. elections.
"Don't trip the wire because if you do, sanctions areautomatic and harsh" should be the message, Van Hollen said.
He said he had not been directly contacted by energylobbyists.
Lobbyists representing oil and gas firms with interests inRussia were opposing the legislation, two Senate aides said.They did not mention specific companies and spoke anonymouslybecause private conversations were still underway.
One of the Senate aides said the U.S.-Russia Chamber ofCommerce was raising concerns about the legislation.
The chamber describes itself as a non-profit organizationheadquartered in Houston that promotes trade between Russia andthe United States. Its members include Shell, Exxon Mobil, andChevron.
Chamber representatives and the three energy companies didnot respond to requests for comment.
Exxon has already taken a hit because of sanctions. InFebruary, the firm said it would exit some joint ventures withRussia's Rosneft.
The company still has operations in Russia, including an oilventure on an island in the North Pacific called Sakhalin.(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Timothy Gardner, Writing byRichard CowanEditing by Mary Milliken and Rosalba O'Brien)
