The United States has proposed giving Germany six months to settle the ownership status of the German assets of Rosneft, opening the way for a time-limited, one-off general licence that would temporarily shield Rosneft Deutschland from newly imposed US sanctions.
The approach, first reported by Bloomberg, is intended to avoid disruption at German refineries while Berlin works on a durable legal solution.
According to people familiar with the exchanges, Washington has indicated the licence would be non-renewable and focused solely on allowing continued operations while Germany resolves legal title. Berlin is assessing the proposal and is expected to respond in the coming days. Without an exemption, industry counterparts have warned they may halt dealings with Rosneft’s German unit given the breadth of US measures and banks’ compliance risk.
Katherina Reiche, Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, plans to raise the issue with G7 counterparts at the Energy and Environment Ministers’ meeting in Toronto on 30–31 October 2025, where energy security and sanctions enforcement are on the agenda. The meeting is hosted by Canada under its G7 presidency.
Rosneft Deutschland has been under German fiduciary (trusteeship) management since September 2022, when the federal government moved to secure operations at key refineries following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Trusteeship has been repeatedly extended while Germany sought an investor-led exit from Russian ownership; expropriation has remained a contingency but Berlin has preferred a sale.
The unit holds stakes in three refineries—PCK Schwedt, MiRO Karlsruhe and Bayernoil—that together represent about 12% of Germany’s refining capacity, underscoring the potential impact of any abrupt interruption. The 12% figure is cited by both German and company sources.
A sale process has proven difficult. Qatar was at one stage considered the last serious bidder for the seized German operations, but interest waned and talks ultimately faltered, leaving Berlin without a buyer this summer.
The US sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil on 22 October, designating the companies and their majority-owned affiliates under Executive Order 14024. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued wind-down general licences with short horizons that run to 21 November 2025. After that date, absent specific authorisations, transactions with the designated parties become prohibited for US persons and, in practice, many non-US firms and banks.
Berlin has argued that Rosneft’s German subsidiaries are functionally separated from the parent under trusteeship and should not be captured by the US measures. The UK has already granted a special licence covering dealings with the German subsidiaries while trusteeship continues. Germany is seeking an analogous treatment from Washington to maintain supply and finance flows to the refineries.
Market participants have cautioned that, without a clear US carve-out, counterparties—including banks, traders and fuel customers—may disengage from Rosneft Deutschland to avoid secondary exposure, complicating procurement, financing and payments. Those concerns intensified after initial indications that Rosneft’s German unit was not automatically excluded from the October sanctions package.
Germany’s immediate objective is to put the assets on a stable legal footing before the US wind-down period ends on 21 November 2025. Officials contend that a limited US licence covering Rosneft Deutschland would preserve continuity while Berlin completes either a transfer of ownership or another legally robust arrangement. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government has repeatedly said supply security remains the overriding consideration.
Any solution will need to accommodate the shareholder structure at Schwedt, where Rosneft remains the majority owner on paper, alongside other shareholders, and where separate transactions—such as Shell’s stake disposal—have been contested. The interplay between trusteeship, potential sales and sanctions compliance has constrained investment planning at the sites.
The outcome of talks over the proposed six-month window will determine whether Rosneft Deutschland can continue operating under a temporary US licence while Germany finalises ownership changes. With G7 ministers meeting this week and the US wind-down deadline set for 21 November, Berlin and Washington will need to bridge legal and policy requirements quickly to avoid unintended supply disruptions.
