The US Treasury Department today imposed sanctions on Russian state-controlled Rosneft's trading unit TNK Trading International over its involvement in Venezuelan oil trade.
TNK is the second Rosneft trading unit to be targeted by the US, following an 18 February action against Rosneft Trading.
Rosneft Trading since then re-allocated Venezuelan crude cargoes it was lifting to TNK Trading, Treasury said.
"TNK Trading International is another Rosneft subsidiary brokering the sale and transport of Venezuelan crude oil, which is subject to sanctions," treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
Both Rosneft Trading and TNK are based in Switzerland. TNK purchased 18mn bl of Venezuelan oil in January, according to the US.
Today's action affects both US and foreign companies, which will have until 20 May to wind down their business dealings with TNK Trading. The deadline matches the wind down period for Rosneft Trading.
The sanctions imposed today do not directly target parent company Rosneft and its Rosneft Oil subsidiary.
Rosneft last month denounced the sanctions against its trading unit as "baseless and illegal" and said it was lifting cargoes from Venezuela under contracts predating the US sanctions regime.
