TDFP EXCLUSIVE: Chinese Energy Firm Whose Former Shipyard Was Sanctioned for Aiding Russia's Arctic Gas Project Has Paid D.C. Lobbyists $650,000 to Work on Sanctions
A Chinese energy company whose former shipyard is on the U.S. sanctions list for helping build Russia's Arctic LNG 2 natural gas project has paid a Washington lobbying firm $650,000 to work on sanctions issues, according to federal lobbying disclosures reviewed by The Digital Free Press.
Wison New Energies Company, based in Shanghai, hired BGR Government Affairs to "provide strategic counsel and advocate on energy related sanctions," according to the firm's registration, which lists an effective date of Sept. 11, 2025.
BGR's newest quarterly report, posted Oct. 20, shows Wison paid the firm $130,000 for July through September, and that BGR contacted the State Department and the Treasury Department on its behalf. BGR has reported $130,000 from Wison in each of the five quarters since it registered, for a total of $650,000.
The filings list two lobbyists. Edward Rogers is listed with past posts including deputy assistant to the president and executive assistant to the White House chief of staff. Walker Roberts is listed as a former deputy chief of staff of the House International Relations Committee and a former special assistant to the president.
Owned in China
The registration lists three foreign entities that own Wison: Wison Offshore & Marine Limited in Hong Kong, Wison (China) Holding Company in China, and Wison Group Holding Limited in the British Virgin Islands.
The Sanctions on Wison's Former Yard
In January 2025, the State Department designated Zhoushan Wison Offshore and Marine Co., Ltd., a shipyard in eastern China, under the sanctions order targeting Russia. The department said the yard "has built and supplied power generation modules for LLC ARCTIC LNG 2," the Russian liquefied natural gas project already under U.S. sanctions, and that the modules were moved through Chinese ports and a series of ships, "some of which took actions to conceal their identity and location," before being offloaded at the Russian project.
The yard remains on the Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals list, according to the list as published on Oct. 26, 2026. Wison New Energies itself does not appear on the list.
Wison New Energies said in 2024 that it would stop all of its Russian projects, Reuters reported at the time. The maritime news site gCaptain reported in February 2025 that Wison had sold the sanctioned Zhoushan yard to an entity affiliated with the city government of Nantong, China, shortly before a U.S. wind-down period expired, and that Wison had blamed the late-2024 shipments to Russia on "third parties."
The lobbying filings do not say which sanctions BGR is working on, or what Wison wants the State or Treasury Departments to do.
The Digital Free Press found no news coverage of Wison's Washington lobbying before publication, beyond a one-line listing in a lobbying-industry newsletter in October 2025.
The Digital Free Press reached out to Wison New Energies and BGR Government Affairs for comment on Oct. 26; no response was received by publication.
Images: LNG carrier at a shipyard (file photo, not a Wison vessel), Wikimedia Commons, public domain; U.S. Treasury Department sign, Washington, by G. Edward Johnson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press
Hold Everyone Accountable.
Sources: BGR Government Affairs, lobbying registration (LD-1) for Wison New Energies Company, effective Sept. 11, 2025: https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/5d0c08a7-b16c-4848-8b9c-d62104e6996a/print/ ; BGR Government Affairs, third-quarter 2026 report (LD-2) for Wison, $130,000, posted Oct. 20, 2026: https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/f3accc4a-c2e8-4a3a-b736-ca5741a4aaad/print/ ; Earlier BGR reports for Wison (Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, Q2 2026, $130,000 each): https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/6313f6e9-5fc2-4f8f-a5d1-08d1190f3b70/print/ ; https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/13c05611-1291-4d99-84bf-74e685f1fc59/print/ ; https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/ae1ae100-ad89-45bf-8135-a90f82d5a1d5/print/ ; https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/c332583c-a27c-4653-b3d0-3d3dbbb4295f/print/ ; U.S. Department of State, "Sanctions to Degrade Russia's Energy Sector," January 2025 (section "Entities Supporting the U.S.-Sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 Project"): https://2021-2025.state.gov/office-of-the-spokesperson/releases/2025/01/sanctions-to-degrade-russias-energy-sector/ ; OFAC Sanctions List Search, Zhoushan Wison Offshore and Marine Co Ltd (RUSSIA-EO14024): https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=52248 ; Reuters, "China's Wison New Energies to quit Russian projects in blow to Arctic LNG 2," June 21, 2024: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-wison-new-energies-quit-russian-projects-blow-arctic-lng-2-2024-06-21/ ; gCaptain, "Wison New Energies Successfully Offloads Sanctioned Zhoushan Yard to Chinese State-Owned Entity," Feb. 19, 2025: https://gcaptain.com/wison-new-energies-successfully-offloads-sanctioned-zhoushan-yard-to-chinese-state-owned-entity/
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