Lukoil's agreement with Carlyle on selling foreign assets expired at end of July without OFAC approval
MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax) - Lukoil's agreement with the U.S. investment company Carlyle on the sale of Lukoil International GmbH (LIG), a 100% subsidiary of the Russian oil company which owns the group's foreign assets, expired at the end of July, since it was not approved by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), according to an LIG report for 2025.
"Intensive negotiations are currently underway with other interested parties regarding the potential acquisition of the LIG group of companies," the document dated September 30 says.
Lukoil announced the potential deal with Carlyle in January, without reporting any validity period for the agreement with the company. Subsequently, the oil company made no announcements about the fate of the arrangements with Carlyle.
The LIG report recalls that following an OFAC permit dated March 31, 2026, Lukoil Mid-East Limited (Cyprus) could, via LIG's wholly owned Lukoil International Upstream Holding B.V., transfer its 75% interest in the West Qurna-2 oil field in Iraq to Basra Oil Company in accordance with an agreement of February 23, 2026. It said that "it is not currently possible to assess which other LIG oil and gas subsidiaries or projects may be acquired separately by potential buyers, or the extent to which LIG's oil and gas subsidiaries or projects may be sold directly to other buyers."
"Management awaits the successful completion of negotiations for the sale and the signing of the share purchase agreement, which will result in the transfer of LIG and its subsidiaries to a new owner. Until the completion of the transaction, management also expects the necessary licenses to be renewed continuously," the report says.
It also says Robert Gulla resigned as Managing Director of lukoil International Holding GmbH on June 30, 2026.
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 foreign assets valued at $20 billion. The company received and accepted an 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.
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 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 totalled 4.2 million tonnes in 2024. Lukoil wrote off all investments in LIG and reported an impairment loss of 1.66 trillion rubles in 2025.
The United States has repeatedly extended temporary permits for the assets to continue operating while their future is being resolved, most recently until October 22.
The Financial Times said recently that billionaire financier Todd Boehly, who had just sold the Chelsea football club, had secured the backing of the U.S. government and Gulf power brokers to bid for the international assets of Lukoil. The FT said Boehly's consortium included U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates' national security adviser and brother of its president. The billionaire Syrian-Qatari Al-Khayyat family, which has worked closely with the White House and Trump family members on property and energy projects, is also included. The DFC, which is part of the U.S. federal government and invests in overseas projects, is expected to take an equity stake of around 15% in the new company, two sources told the FT. The agency is headed by Ben Black, the son of Leon Black, the co-founder of private equity firm Apollo. The Khayyat family would take a smaller stake, while Boehly and the DFC would control a majority of the board, an FT source said.
