Russian oil giant OAO Rosneft is devising a legal strategy to fight Western sanctions in European courts, according to people familiar with the strategy—a tactic modeled on the so-far successful legal campaign waged by Iran’s Bank Mellat.

Morgan Stanley ’s deal to sell an oil trading business to Rosneft , the state-owned Russian oil group, is close to collapse amid the profound chill in relations between Russia and the US.

Russia's top oil producer Rosneft has turned to UK-certified lawyers in its fight against Ukraine-related Western sanctions which have hit the company's output and prospects for its push to tap Arctic riches.

French banking giant BNP Paribas SA has stopped offering letters of credit to finance commodities trades involving sanctioned Russian banks, according to people familiar with the matter—the latest fallout from tightening economic restrictions imposed by the West against Moscow.

Sanctions against the Russian Federation, more specifically in its energy section, seem to have been gradually nullified due to a counteraction by Moscow, which as of late made significant progress on several long-standing issues that have long-term effects on the global natural gas sector.

Russia may be slow to react to economic issues because Putin is preoccupied with foreign policy and Medvedev, a former corporate lawyer, has become indecisive, two officials said.

Russia's Rosneft Offers Stake in an Oilfield to ONGC Videsh

Oil production in Russia increased by almost 0.9 percent month-on-month in September to 10.61 million barrels per day (bpd) largely because of increased output at joint ventures with foreign majors, Energy Ministry data showed on Thursday.

At another time or in a different place, the oil and gas field ExxonMobil has discovered in the Russian Arctic would have been a cause for jubilation at its Texas headquarters.

U.S. energy company GE will continue working in Sakhalin despite Western sanctions on Russia, the company's vice chairman John Rice told Interfax Monday.