US gives Germany six-month deadline for Rosneft assets - Bloomberg
Washington has given Germany six months to resolve the issue of Russian company Rosneft's assets belonging to German subsidiaries.
This was reported by Bloomberg, according to Censor.NET.
According to the publication, the US administration has informed the German side about the possibility of granting a temporary limited license to Rosneft Deutschland. German officials are currently considering this proposal and will respond in the coming days.
As noted, German Economy Minister Katerina Reiche intends to discuss this issue at a meeting of G7 energy and environment ministers in Toronto this week.
Confiscation of Rosneft assets
The German government confiscated Rosneft's assets after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and repeatedly extended the term of trusteeship. Previous agreements with Qatar on the sale of Rosneft's German divisions fell through due to disagreement between the parties on the price.
Rosneft Deutschland owns shares in three German oil refineries, which account for 12% of the country's total refining capacity, including the PCK Raffinerie GmbH plant in Schwedt, as well as a stake in the Transalpine Pipeline.
Six-month deadline for Germany
The six-month term proposed by the US is significantly shorter than the two-year general license granted by the UK last week. Without this license, Rosneft's German subsidiary risks losing key customers from November 21, when the latest US sanctions come into force.
The German Ministry of Economy confirmed that it is in contact with the relevant US authorities and is seeking to clarify all legal issues as quickly as possible, but declined to comment on the details of the negotiations.
Berlin is holding off on nationalizing these companies for now because it's worried about how the Kremlin might react against German operations in Russia.
What preceded it?
On October 23, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against major Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil. The reason for the additional sanctions is Russia's lack of serious commitment to the peace process aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
On October 24, it became known that the special representative of the Russian dictator Kirill Dmitriev arrived in the United States for official negotiations.
