US Treasury Blacklists Another Rosneft Subsidiary over Venezuela Dealings

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated TNK Trading International S.A., a Geneva-based subsidiary of Russian state-controlled Rosneft Oil Company, for operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy.

TTI is involved in the trading, processing, and transport of raw materials, in particular unrefined petroleum and petroleum products.

The treasury said that following its February designation of Rosneft Trading S.A. (RTSA), cargoes of Venezuelan oil allocated to RTSA were changed to TTI in order to evade U.S. sanctions.

The treasury said that TTI and RTSA handled a large percentage of Venezuela’s oil exports in 2019. In January 2020, TTI purchased nearly 14 million barrels of crude oil from Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), OFAC’s data indicates. PdVSA was blacklisted by the U.S. in January 2019.

“TNK Trading International S.A. is another Rosneft subsidiary brokering the sale and transport of Venezuelan crude oil, which is subject to sanctions,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

“The Trump Administration remains committed to targeting those who support the corrupt regime’s exploitation of Venezuela’s oil assets.”

The measure is part of the U.S. efforts to exert pressure on the government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, by limiting Maduro’s use of the country’s crude oil exports to bankroll his regime.

As a result of the latest sanctions, all property and interests in property of TTI that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by the designated individuals and entity, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.

OFAC added that companies would have time until May 20 to wind down their transactions with TTI.