BERLIN/FRANKFURT Germany will extend its trusteeship over the local units of Russia's Rosneft for six more months in anticipation of a sale of the assets to Qatar, two people familiar with matter told Reuters on Monday.

The future of Rosneft's German assets, which include a 54.17% stake in the PCK Schwedt refinery, has yet to be resolved after Berlin effectively took control of them following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

A trusteeship that puts Germany in charge of the businesses while leaving ownership with Rosneft has already been extended three times to protect Schwedt's supply and to give Rosneft time to find a buyer for its stake.

The people, who could not be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said a decision to extend the trusteeship, which is set to expire on Sept 10, once again has been made.

Germany's economy ministry, which is in charge of deciding on the trusteeship, was not immediately available for comment.

Rosneft was also not immediately available.

One of the people said the trusteeship extension was to allow Rosneft to negotiate a sale of its German assets to Qatar, which has a long history of investing in Germany and is the biggest single shareholder in RWE, the country's biggest power producer.

Due diligence between both parties is ongoing but it could take time to reach a deal, the person said.

Rosneft's German activities also include stakes in the MiRo and Bayernoil refineries.

The German government last week confirmed regular exchanges had taken place with Qatar regarding investment opportunities over the last three months, without specifying whether a potential purchase of Rosneft assets was among the talking points.

The refinery is co-owned by Shell and Eni. In December, Shell announced the sale of its 37.5% stake in the refinery to Britain's Prax Group.

Under Germany's energy security law, Berlin could also opt to expropriate Rosneft Germany if no sale can be agreed, as it did with Gazprom's local assets when the Russian gas company said it had withdrawn from them in 2022.

  - Reuters