Construction works on the 55 Bcm/year Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline linking Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea were abruptly interrupted in late December after the US government implemented new sanctions threatening measures against contractors building the project.

TNK Trading International SA is scheduled to load 14.3 million barrels of Venezuelan crude in the first two months of 2020, compared with 5 million in all of 2019, according to shipping reports compiled by Bloomberg. That may offset any lost oil revenue for the Maduro administration, underscoring the difficulty of shutting Venezuela’s access to the global market.

While Gazprom has said it’s looking at options to complete the pipeline, it hasn’t given any details on where it will find the ship to do the work. One of the pipeline’s financial backers, Austrian gas and oil company OMV AG, has predicted that the Russians will follow through.

The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Rosneft Trading SA, the Geneva-based subsidiary of the Russian state oil company, for supporting Venezuela's oil sector by continuing to trade with sanctions-hit PDVSA

The sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury Department against Rosneft’s subsidiary RTSA and its Chairman are illegal, unjustified, and an act of legal abuse.

US imports of unfinished oils from Russia averaged 472,000 b/d in November, the most since May 2013, when the same amount of unfinished oils was imported from Russia.

Brent rose 24 cents, or 0.4%, to $55.17 a barrel, WTI were up 15 cents, or 0.3%, at $51.10 a barrel,

Russian energy minister Alexander Novak discussed bilateral energy cooperation with the US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, on Thursday, according to an energy ministry statement.

The US was prepared to sanction Rosneft if it continued to trade crude oil and fuel with PDVSA, but analysts said those sanctions have yet to be imposed because of the expected impact they may have on the global oil market.

“Of course we will finish building (the pipeline)... Gazprom has alternative options for how to lay it. It will take a little more time, but that’s no big deal,” Medvedev told journalists, adding that it could take a couple more months.

“Such sanctions are a serious interference in the internal affairs of Germany and Europe and their sovereignty. We firmly reject this,” Scholz told German broadcaster ARD in comments released on Saturday. But he rejected countermeasures.

The EU first imposed energy sanctions in July 2014 when it limited Russia 's access to European technology and services for developing Arctic, deepwater and unconventional oil resources.

After hours of talks brokered by the European Commission in Berlin, Sefcovic said: "I am very glad to say we have reached agreement in principle on all key elements, which is very positive news for Europe, for Russia, for Ukraine and for the gas market."

The U.S. has little leverage to prevent the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany from being completed, two administration officials said, acknowledging the failure of a years-long effort to head off what officials believe is a threat to European security.

Дмитрий Тимофеев указал, что США злоупотребляют статусом доллара как основной резервной и расчетной валюты. Поэтому основные меры в сфере противодействия санкциям, над которыми работает Правительство Российской Федерации, направлены на снижение зависимости российской экономики от доллара за счет перехода на расчеты в национальных валютах. "Ориентируемся на создание системы стимулов, которая будет способствовать переходу юридических лиц, банков на использование альтернативных валют, что позволит снизить уязвимость", - сказал он.