US excludes Rosneft Germany from Russia sanctions indefinitely, Bloomberg News reports

March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. government will exempt the German unit of Russia's Rosneft ROSN.MM from sanctions against the oil major indefinitely, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

"We are in close and very constructive dialogue with the relevant U.S. authorities with a view to extending the relevant U.S. exemption as early as possible," Germany's economy ministry told Reuters.

Germany placed the local units of Russia's Rosneft under trusteeship in 2022 after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine upended Berlin's decades-long energy ties with Russia.

The assets include a stake in the PCK Schwedt refinery, a key supplier of fuel to the capital region.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control is expected to announce a decision on Friday, though the timing could still change, Bloomberg News said.

An extension of the existing U.S. sanctions waiver would reduce the risk of disruptions to German refining operations at a time when the escalating conflict in the Middle East is unsettling global energy markets.

In October, Reuters reported that Washington had given written assurances that German operations formerly owned by Rosneft would be exempt from new U.S. energy sanctions.