The Rosneft company is helping the Venezuelan government bypass US sanctions against its oil sector, reports Reuters with reference to sources and documents with which the agency got acquainted.

According to the newspaper, PDVSA, the oil company of Venezuela, began to transfer Rosneft invoices (documents about the product, quantity and prices, which the seller sends to the buyer) for the sale of fuel. Rosneft is reportedly paying its Venezuelan counterparts immediately, despite the industry’s 30–90 day period for completing transactions. In addition, the Russian company does not pay the full price, but with a discount.

After Rosneft resells invoices to other buyers, but for the full price. As Reuters found out, a number of major energy companies agreed to participate in the scheme and buy up Venezuelan oil from Rosneft. In particular, Indian Reliance Industries Ltd., the largest buyer of PDVSA.

Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontyev commented on Forbes for information Reuters refused, saying: “It’s impossible to comment on informational messages of a structure that is not a news agency, but a disinformation organization that produces fakes on demand. In principle, this is a criminal activity. I will not comment on pseudo-agency messages. ” Later, Rosneft in a statement on the site called the material Reuters "outright lies."

According to an agency source in a Venezuelan company, “money is deposited in Russian banks or used to pay for port services or cargo transportation so that oil exports are not interrupted.” Other agency interlocutors clarified that part of the funds were transferred through the Russian-Venezuelan Eurofinance Mosnarbank, which fell in March under US sanctions. The bank denied this information.

When the two sides began using a circumvention scheme, Reuters does not specify. But he writes that negotiations between the administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the Russian authorities began in January, right after the United States imposed sanctions on PDVSA. It happened on January 29th.

The share of oil sales in Venezuela’s exports exceeds 90%, fuel supplies are the main source of revenue for the country's budget, Reuters notes.

Rosneft also did not respond to the request of the agency to comment on the information. The request was also ignored by the Venezuelan Ministry of Petroleum, the Ministry of Information and the PDVSA itself.