A Texas oil executive and Republican donor is lobbying US lawmakers against bipartisan legislation that would impose sanctions on pro-Russian and anti-democratic officials in Georgia, based on a letter obtained by The Hill.
The outlet reports that Steve Nicandros, chairman and CEO of a Houston-based energy company with major investments in Georgia, sent a letter this month to at least one Republican member of the US House of Representatives urging opposition to the MEGOBARI Act. The Hill did not name the lawmaker, citing source protection.
Nicandros claims his company is preparing a new $100 million investment program in Georgia over the next two years. In his letter, he argues that the MEGOBARI Act — and similar efforts aimed at sanctioning Tbilisi — would harm US businesses operating in the country.
The MEGOBARI Act (H.R. 36 / S. 868) seeks to impose costs on Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party over its violent crackdown on protests, democratic backsliding, and deepening ties with Russia, China, and Iran. While the bill passed the US House in March by a wide bipartisan margin, it remains stalled in Congress after being blocked in the Senate by Markwayne Mullin.
Nicandros has previously donated to Mullin’s campaign and political action committee, as well as to other Republican lawmakers. Mullin told The Hill that his opposition to the MEGOBARI Act is unrelated to Nicandros. However, in 2020, Mullin advocated on behalf of Nicandros’ company, Frontera Resources, during a dispute with the Georgian government.
House Speaker Mike Johnson attempted to attach the MEGOBARI Act to the National Defense Authorization Act late last year, but the move was blocked by Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
In his January 19 letter, Nicandros explicitly urged lawmakers “to oppose the Megobari Act (H.R. 36/S.868) and any additional legislation modeled on it,” expressing concern over what he described as the continuation of “Biden-era policies.”
During Frontera Resources’ 2020 dispute with Tbilisi, the company claimed to have invested more than $500 million in Georgia. That year, it reportedly spent $1 million on lobbying, and Georgian authorities later allowed Frontera to resume operations.
Nicandros framed his latest outreach as a follow-up to a September letter to Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, thanking them for voting against a bill that would have withheld US recognition of the Georgian Dream-led government.
Both that bill and the MEGOBARI Act were sponsored by Joe Wilson, who has publicly raised concerns about Nicandros’ lobbying activities. In September, Wilson told Reuters that, as co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission, he would seek further scrutiny of Nicandros’ operations.
The legislation comes amid deteriorating US–Georgia relations. Sanctions imposed under the Biden administration remain in place, including measures targeting Georgian Dream officials involved in violent crackdowns on protesters and sanctions against party honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili. The US also suspended the US–Georgia Strategic Partnership, which had facilitated cooperation in defense, security, trade, energy, and democratic development.
Ivanishvili, who amassed his fortune in post-Soviet Russia, has steered Georgian Dream toward closer relations with Moscow, including resuming flights with Russia and mirroring Kremlin-style legislation restricting civil society. Georgia has also refrained from fully joining Western sanctions against Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In an email to The Hill this week, Wilson defended the MEGOBARI Act as essential to advancing US strategic interests in the South Caucasus, including what he described as a “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” connecting Armenia and Azerbaijan — Georgia’s southern neighbors.
Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a US-brokered peace deal in August, but Azerbaijani media have reported rising tensions between Tbilisi and Baku that could threaten the route.
“The historic peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the success of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, and removing China, Iran, and Russia from the Middle Corridor are only possible if the Georgian Dream government changes its anti-American behavior,” Wilson said.
Photo: Steve Nicandros (Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer)
