Frontera’s Steve Nicandros Lobbied Against U.S. Bill Targeting Georgian Dream, Reuters Reports

Steve Nicandros, co-founder of the Texas-based oil company Frontera Resources, has lobbied against a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson that would prohibit the U.S. government from recognizing the Georgian Dream government, Reuters reported.

The international news agency presumably referred to the Georgian Dream non-recognition bill, which was amended in mid-September by the House Foreign Affairs Committee for inclusion in the U.S. State Department Authorization Act. Reuters itself wrote that the bill “is awaiting a floor vote after clearing the committee.”

The news agency said it had seen a letter dated September 30 from Nicandros to “some Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee thanking them for opposing that measure.”

“In his letter, Nicandros, the chief executive of energy firm TXN Energy, argued that Georgian Dream was democratically elected, and that such a measure could push Georgia further into Russia’s orbit and harm U.S. business interests, including his own,” Reuters wrote, citing the letter as saying, “For companies like ours that employ people and invest in Georgia, stable bilateral relations are critical.” Reuters also said Rep. Wilson “was concerned by Nicandros’ efforts to thwart the bill.”

Nicandros did not respond to Reuters’ emailed questions. Georgia’s ambassador to the United States, Tamar Taliashvili, said that while Nicandros is a “trailblazer,” the Georgian government has no lobbying affiliations in the U.S.

“Concerning Mr. Steven Nicandros – he is an American businessman, widely recognized as one of the earliest trailblazers to introduce well-established U.S. enterprise to the South Caucasian region in the wake of Georgia’s independence from the Soviet Union,” Taliashvili told Reuters, claiming that while bilateral relations between Georgia and the U.S. deteriorated under Biden, they could improve under Trump, as Georgian Dream awaits the President to “break his silence” towards Georgia.

Citing OpenSecrets, a website that tracks campaign finance data, Reuters also said that Nicandros has donated more than USD 200,000 to Republican lawmakers and congressional committees but could not determine whether those donations influenced lawmakers’ votes.

Frontera Resources

Steve Nicandros is a co-founder of the Texas-based oil company Frontera Resources, which has operated in Georgia since 1997 and was involved in a legal dispute with the Georgian government about four years ago. The dispute concerned a contract with Georgia’s Ministry of Economy over oil and gas exploration rights.

In 2020, an international arbitration tribunal ruled on the case, though the details and outcome remain confidential. The Georgian government said at the time that the tribunal had found a material breach of contract by Frontera, giving it the right to terminate the agreement.

Despite the ruling, the government decided not to terminate the contract, citing the need to preserve Georgia’s reputation as a reliable investment destination and to maintain strong strategic ties with the United States.

Frontera reportedly still owes $15.4 million to the Georgian authorities under a court ruling, according to RFE/RL’s Georgian Service.

GD Lobbyists?

The U.S. Congress is also considering another Georgia-related measure, the MEGOBARI Act, which envisions broader sanctions on Georgian Dream officials over corruption, democratic backsliding, and ties with U.S. adversaries. The bill, approved by the House in July, is currently awaiting Senate consideration.

The Hill reported in September that Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma has emerged as one of the main obstacles to the act’s passage.

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen lamented the bill’s lack of progress despite broad bipartisan support. “It’s amazing that it’s happened, and why it’s happened, I do not understand,” he said of the bill’s fate.

Also Read:

• 11/09/2025 – U.S. Helsinki Commission Holds Hearing on Georgia’s “Anti-American Turn”
• 09/01/2025 – “Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act” Introduced in U.S. Congress
• 24/07/2020 – Frontera Accuses Georgian Gov’t of “Disinformation Campaign”
• 07/05/2020 – Georgia’s Oil Corp Accuses Frontera Resources of ‘Distorting Int’l Arbitration Court’s Ruling’