German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he’s optimistic that the US will exempt Rosneft PJSC’s German unit from Washington’s latest sanctions against Russia.

Days after canceling a planned summit with Putin, citing a lack of progress toward ending the war in Ukraine, Trump took a major step by effectively blacklisting Rosneft and Lukoil.

The statement comes a day after the US imposed sanctions on Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil, which account for over two-thirds of India’s oil imports from Russia—currently the biggest supplier of crude oil to India with a market share of over 35 per cent.

Trump “is seriously breaking the ice with these measures,” former Russian deputy energy minister Vladimir Milov told Newsweek.

The United States and its allies have sanctioned Russia’s largest oil companies in an effort to choke off funding for the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, though experts doubt the measures will have immediate impact.

Crude oil is taking a breather after soaring by the most in four months, with WTI futures (CL1:COM) now resting firmly above $60 per barrel. The catalyst for the jump was new U.S. sanctions on two of Russia's biggest energy giants: Rosneft and Lukoil.

The US is imposing sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, aiming to “degrade” Vladimir Putin’s war chest and support Donald Trump’s effort to end the war in Ukraine. The move marks the first time the Trump administration has imposed direct costs on Moscow over its full-scale invasion.

Germany is seeking an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian oil company Rosneft's German business, a person with direct knowledge of the government discussions said on Thursday, after banks said sanctions could stop them dealing with the local energy supplier.