United Kingdom issues license to continue operations with Lukoil's Bulgarian structures until Feb 14, 2026

MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) - The UK Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has extended a license to conduct operations with Lukoil's Bulgarian structures under the imposed sanctions restrictions until February 14, 2026.

This concerns interaction with the companies Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD and Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD, the office said.

The United Kingdom, as part of a large-scale update of the Russian segment of the sanctions list, included Lukoil in it on October 15 and ordered for all transactions with the company to be completed by November 29.

Following this, on October 22, the U.S. Department of the Treasury included Lukoil in its sanctions list and issued it a license to wind down its operations by November 21. The oil company announced soon after that it intended to sell its international assets. It later became known that Lukoil had received and accepted an offer to buy out the foreign assets from the international commodity trader Gunvor. The deal involved the acquisition of 100% of Lukoil International GmbH, with the key terms of the deal agreed upon by the parties. However, its implementation became impossible due to the stance of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which said it would not issue a license to Gunvor to conduct business while the conflict in Ukraine continues. In connection with this, Gunvor withdrew the offer.

Lukoil began operating in Bulgaria in October 1999, purchasing a controlling stake in the Burgas oil refinery with a capacity of 8.8 million tonnes. It also manages a network of over 500 gas stations in the country. Due to the EU's ban on imports of Russian oil, Lukoil has had difficulty running its operations in Bulgaria in the last three years. It said that the group had begun reviewing the strategy for its assets in Bulgaria, including the sale of the business. However, it is still the owner of the Burgas oil refinery and the gas stations.

Bulgaria believes that the U.S. could extend the sanctions reprieve on Lukoil's assets in the country for half a year.