Lukoil said on Thursday it had accepted an offer from global commodity trader Gunvor to buy its foreign assets, which Russia’s second-largest oil company is seeking to sell after Washington imposed sanctions on it last week.
The planned asset sale is the most consequential action so far by a Russian company resulting from Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Lukoil said in a statement it had accepted an offer from Gunvor to sell Lukoil International GmbH, which controls the oil major’s foreign assets.
“The key terms of the transaction have been earlier agreed by the parties. On its side, (Lukoil) accepted the offer, having undertaken not to negotiate with other potential buyers,” Lukoil said of Gunvor’s offer.
Gunvor confirmed it was in talks with Lukoil over the possible acquisition of its foreign assets.
GUNVOR USES POST-2022 PROFITS TO FUND ACQUISITIONS
The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a licence giving companies until November 21 to wind down any transactions with Lukoil and Rosneft, another Russian energy firm targeted by the new round of sanctions.
“If necessary, the parties plan to apply for an extension of the current licence,” Lukoil said.
The deal is subject to permission from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, it added.
Gunvor rose to prominence in the 2000s as the world’s biggest trader in Russian oil.
Its shareholders at the time included Gennady Timchenko, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, who sold his stake in Gunvor after the U.S. targeted him with sanctions following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Like many trading houses, Gunvor has profited heavily from a rally in oil and gas prices that began with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and Europe’s move to cut its dependence upon Russian energy.
Gunvor and peers Vitol and Trafigura have used those profits to acquire assets ranging from refineries and oil fields to power plants and wind farms.
LUKOIL’S FOREIGN ASSETS – FROM IRAQ TO AFRICA
Moscow-headquartered Lukoil accounts for around 2% of global oil output.
Its biggest foreign asset is Iraq’s West Qurna 2 oil field, one of the world’s largest, in which it holds a 75% stake. The field’s output topped 480,000 barrels per day in April, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
It also owns the 190,000 bpd Lukoil Neftohim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria, the largest in the Balkans, as well as the Petrotel oil refinery in Romania.
Lukoil supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia, as well as to Turkey’s STAR refinery, which is owned by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and depends heavily on Russian crude.
Lukoil also holds stakes in oil terminals as well as retail fuel chains in Europe and owns upstream and downstream projects in Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.
(Reuters)