License for sale of Lukoil's foreign assets extended until Oct 22 - OFAC

MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has extended from September 19 to October 22 the license authorizing negotiations and the entry into conditional agreements with Lukoil regarding the sale of Lukoil International GmbH (LIG), which holds the oil company's foreign assets, or any controlled entity.

However, any transactions remain subject to approval via separate OFAC authorization.

As reported, OFAC added Lukoil and several of its subsidiaries to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List on October 22, 2025. Following the imposition of sanctions, Lukoil announced its intention to sell its foreign assets. The company received and accepted a buyout offer from international commodities trader Gunvor, with key terms agreed. However, the U.S. Treasury Department's denial of approval precluded the deal. Lukoil entered into an agreement with the American investment firm Carlyle in late January 2026 to sell Lukoil International GmbH. The agreement is awaiting OFAC approval.

Transactions with Lukoil filling stations outside Russia and with the company's Bulgarian assets were approved until October 29, 2026. The restrictions did not affect oilfield services and other services related to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and the Tengizchevroil and Karachaganak projects.

When the sanctions were imposed, Lukoil was involved in projects in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Mexico, the UAE and the Republic of Congo. The company owns oil refineries in Bulgaria, Romania and the Netherlands, and has a chain of 2,500 gas stations in 19 countries. Across all of its international projects, it had proven oil and gas reserves of 1.345 trillion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2024. In the same year, it produced an estimated 3.9 million tonnes of oil with gas condensate and 16.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas at all of its international projects excluding West Qurna 2. Processing at the group's European oil refineries decreased 18% in 2024 to 13.5 million tonnes due to the sale of the ISAB Refinery in Italy in May 2023. Retail petroleum product sales totaled 4.2 million tonnes in 2024.

Lukoil fully wrote off all investments in LIG and reported an impairment loss of 1.66 trillion rubles in 2025.