By Riham Alkousaa and Christoph Steitz
BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Berlin is considering extending its trusteeship over the German assets of Russian oil producer Rosneft for a sixth time, two people familiar with the matter said, as efforts to sell the business drag on.
The repeated trusteeship renewals raise pressure on Berlin to come up with a better legal structure for Rosneft’s activities in Germany.
The situation is emblematic of the challenges Berlin faces in dealing with Russian assets in Germany at a time when efforts to end the war in Ukraine are picking up pace.
Rosneft’s German assets, including stakes in the Schwedt, MiRo and Bayernoil refineries, were put under government trusteeship in September 2022 in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which sparked an energy crisis due to the collapse of Europe’s relations with key supplier Russia.
So far, Berlin has shied away from nationalising Rosneft’s activities, opting instead to maintain de facto control over them via a trusteeship that still leaves legal ownership in Russian hands.
The trusteeship, which has to be renewed every six months, currently runs until September 10 and is being enacted by the German network regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, on behalf of the economy ministry.
A formal decision about the trusteeship extension is still outstanding, the sources said.
Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil producer, has sought to sell its German businesses, including a 54.17% stake in the PCK Schwedt refinery, but talks with potential suitors, including Qatar, have proven unsuccessful so far.
The first source said talks between Rosneft and Qatar were ongoing.
Rosneft also owns a 24% stake in the MiRo and a 28.57% stake in the Bayernoil refineries.
The economy ministry said that Berlin was examining various options regarding the group’s German assets.
“Ensuring security of supply remains the primary goal,” a spokesperson for the ministry said, adding that Berlin was not part of the sales negotiations and could not provide information about it.
The Qatar Investment Authority and Rosneft did not respond to requests for comment.
Gazprom Germania, now operating under the name Sefe, was nationalised by Berlin in 2022 after the group’s former Russian parent ditched the division, which is a vital part of Germany’s gas supply.
“The federal government is locked into its own strategy. For the (conservatives) Christian Democrats, expropriating companies would be against their campaigns … it would be a major step with a very high threshold,” the first source said.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Christoph Steitz. Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin. Editing by Ludwig Burger and Mark Potter)
