The US Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Russia for the first time since Donald Trump was re-elected, adding Rosneft, Lukoil, and 34 of their subsidiaries to the SDN list. In the Treasury statement, the companies were described as the largest oil groups financing the Kremlin’s war machine. Together, they account for about half of Russia’s oil production.
The blocking sanctions freeze assets in the United States and assets controlled by US persons, and effectively cut the companies off from dollar-denominated settlements. Banks, insurers, and other entities handling transactions involving firms on the SDN list may also face secondary sanctions.
“As always, the key question is not the sanctions themselves, but their enforcement,” Tatyana Mitrova of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy told the publication.
The measures also indirectly affect foreign partners. The sanctions lists include Taas-Yuryakh and Kharampurneftegaz, in which BP holds 20% and 49% respectively; BP still also owns 19.75% of Rosneft itself. Pressure may likewise fall on India’s ONGC Videsh, Oil India, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat PetroResources Limited, and China’s Sinopec.
According to the article, Russia exports 47% of the oil it produces, or 240 million tons out of 516 million in 2024. After the January 2025 sanctions on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, Russian oil-and-gas budget revenues fell by 20.6% year on year in January-September 2025, to 6.61 trillion rubles. Indian refineries are already looking for ways to stop direct purchases from the sanctioned companies, although some supplies are likely to continue through intermediaries. In China, state firms may temporarily avoid seaborne Russian cargoes, according to Reuters, while pipeline deliveries remain less vulnerable. Analysts say the sanctions will increase pressure on Russia’s export earnings, but will not cut them off entirely.