Kazakhstan has priority right to purchase Lukoil assets in country - Kazakh energy minister
ASTANA. Dec 15 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan has the priority right to repurchase Lukoil's assets in the country in accordance with the country's legislation, Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said at a briefing on Monday.
"Kazakhstan, in accordance with the Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use, has a priority right [of repurchase], and in the future we will decide whether we use it or not," Akkenzhenov said.
He recalled that the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) extended a license that permits conducting negotiations and entering into conditional agreements with Lukoil for the sale of Lukoil International GmbH (LIG, which owns the company's foreign assets) or any controlled company until January 17, 2026.
"We are all eagerly awaiting the completion of these deadlines and further actions. The government is not conducting any negotiations on the purchase of these assets. I know that many companies around the world are showing interest," he said.
Lukoil was included in the U.S. sanctions list on October 22. At that time, OFAC, aware of potential efforts to sell the Russian company's foreign assets to unblocked legal entities, issued a license until December 13. Permitted activities include conducting negotiations on the terms of final agreements, financial and legal due diligence and engaging third-party advisors and consultants.
OFAC may revoke the license at any time, including if Lukoil or LIG does not show signs of conducting good-faith negotiations regarding the sale of LIG or its assets, OFAC said.
Following the imposition of U.S. and British sanctions starting on October 15, Lukoil announced its intention to sell its foreign assets. The company received and accepted an offer to repurchase its foreign assets from the international commodity trader Gunvor, and the key terms of the deal were agreed upon by the parties. However, its implementation became impossible due to the position of the U.S. Treasury Department, which said that it would not issue a license to Gunvor to conduct business as long as the conflict in Ukraine continued. In connection with this, the buyer withdrew its offer.
After Gunvor dropped out of the race, a number of buyers for Lukoil International appeared. Media reports indicated interest from U.S. giants Chevron Corp. and ExxonMobil , the Abu Dhabi state-owned company ADNOC, the private investment fund Carlyle Group, the Emirati conglomerate International Holding Company (IHC), businessman Todd Boehly with a group of investors from the UAE, and Austrian businessman Bernd Bergmair.
Lukoil is involved in projects in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Republic of the Congo, and has oil refineries in Bulgaria, Romania and the Netherlands. The company also has about 2,500 filling stations in 19 countries. The proven oil and gas reserves of Lukoil's international projects totalled 1.345 trillion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2024. The company's international projects, not including West Qurna 2 in Iraq, produced 3.9 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate and 16.2 billion cubic meters of gas in 2024. Crude processing at the group's European oil refineries fell 18% to 13.5 million tonnes in 2024 due to the sale of the ISAB refinery in Italy in May 2023. Retail sales of oil products abroad totaled 4.2 million tonnes in 2024.
London allowed operations with Lukoil's international assets until February 26. OFAC extended the ability for the Russian company's foreign filling stations to operate until April 29, 2026. A number of the company's foreign projects received exemptions from both UK and U.S. sanctions, including the projects for developing the Tengiz and Karachaganak fields as well as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
