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Washington has formally assured Berlin that the German operations of Russia’s Rosneft will be exempt from new energy sanctions on the grounds that the assets are no longer under Russian control, Germany’s economy minister said on Tuesday. Katherina Reiche confirmed that the US had issued a ‘Letter of Comfort’ in the early hours of the morning, recognizing that Rosneft’s business in Germany had been fully severed from its Russian parent company. The clarification followed days of uncertainty in Berlin after US President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled sweeping sanctions prohibiting Western financial institutions and clients from dealings with sanctioned Russian entities. “A letter of comfort to this effect has been in place since three o’clock this morning,” Reiche told Reuters. She added that, although the waiver did not carry an expiration date, further clarifications were pending, according to the agency. Bloomberg had previously reported that US officials had floated a six-month grace period for Germany to resolve the ownership limbo affecting the German assets of Rosneft, suggesting that a short-term exemption was in place. The outlet also noted that the Trump administration had discussed granting a non-renewable, limited general license for Rosneft Deutschland, citing individuals familiar with the matter. Reiche told Reuters that the letter of comfort that Germany has received removes ambiguity for German companies and customers worried that commercial ties with Rosneft’s German subsidiaries could fall within the scope of US sanctions. A spokesperson for the German Economy Ministry told the agency that discussions with Washington were continuing in an effort to secure a lasting formal exemption for the company’s local assets. Germany seized Rosneft’s holdings and placed them in state trusteeship in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has extended that measure multiple times. Conceived initially as a temporary measure while Berlin sought a sale to non-Russian buyers, the arrangement has effectively become permanent amid stalled negotiations. Rosneft continues to hold shares in three German refineries, among them the strategically vital PCK facility near Berlin. The letter arrived after Trump announced penalties on Rosneft and another Russian oil major, Lukoil, lamenting the lack of progress in peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Monday, it was reported that Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, would sell its international assets in response to the sanctions.
