U.S. Issues Written Assurance Exempting Rosneft Germany from New Sanctions — Reuters

The U.S. government has provided written confirmation that the German subsidiaries of Russia’s Rosneft will be exempt from recently imposed energy sanctions, Orda.kz reports, citing Reuters.

The assets are no longer under Russian control, German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said on Tuesday.

Reiche told Reuters that Washington issued a “Letter of Comfort” early Tuesday morning, acknowledging that Rosneft’s German operations are fully separated from the Russian parent company.

Germany had sought clarification from Washington after the Trump administration announced sanctions prohibiting Western financial institutions and companies from doing business with designated Russian firms.

A letter of comfort to this effect has been in place since three o’clock this morning,Reiche said, adding that while the exemption is not limited in time, further technical details are still under discussion.

The day before, Bloomberg claimed the United States has urged Germany to develop a plan for the future ownership of Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH.

Supposedly, Washington floated a six-month window to resolve the ownership issue.

Reiche noted that the document removes uncertainty for Rosneft Deutschland’s partners and customers, ensuring they are not affected by U.S. sanctions when conducting business with the company.

A spokesperson for the Economy Ministry said that Berlin and Washington are continuing talks aimed at permanently securing protection for Rosneft’s German assets from U.S. sanctions.

Berlin has maintained that the refineries, placed under state trusteeship in 2022, are now decoupled from Rosneft PJSC and remain critical to the country’s energy security.

Among the assets is the PCK refinery in Schwedt, one of Germany’s largest, responsible for over 12% of national refining capacity and a major employer in Brandenburg, a region where support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been growing.

Rosneft’s German operations also include a 24% stake in the MiRO refinery and 28.57% in the Bayernoil refinery.