Qatar is in talks with the German government about a possible purchase of Russian energy group Rosneft's stake in the German refinery PCK Schwedt, which Berlin placed under trusteeship following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the news website Business Insider reported.
The German government confirmed that it had held regular talks with Qatar over the past three months about investment opportunities, without specifying whether the potential purchase of Rosneft assets was among the topics discussed.
Jörg Kukies, State Secretary at the German Chancellery, has met with Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), four times in the last three months, most recently on August 14, according to the government.
The QIA and Qatar's international press office did not provide immediate comments. Rosneft did not respond to a request for comment.
Berlin placed Rosneft's German assets under trusteeship in 2022 while still granting the Russian group some control over the sale of those assets. A legal challenge by Rosneft to contest Berlin's control over the assets failed in court last year. The current trusteeship mandate expires on September 10.
The German Economy Ministry told Reuters that it "will make a timely decision" on further measures by then.
Relations between Russia and the West collapsed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Germany has taken steps to bolster its energy security after concluding that it had been overly dependent on Moscow.
Rosneft holds a 54.17% stake in PCK Schwedt, which has traditionally supplied 90% of the fuel used in the German capital, Berlin.
