Jan 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury has extended the deadline for sanctioned Russian oil firm Lukoil to negotiate the sale of the bulk of its international assets until February 28.
The assets, which include oil fields, refineries, and a network of retail gas stations, are worth about $22 billion and have drawn widespread interest, with specific deals requiring separate U.S. Treasury approvals.
Below are details of Lukoil’s international assets and potential buyers:
POTENTIAL BUYERS
Interested parties include private equity giant Carlyle, a group comprising oil major Chevron and Quantum Capital Group as well as UAE-based investor International Holding Company. U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil, Hungary’s MOL and Saudi Arabia’s Midad Energy have also expressed an interest.
The U.S. Treasury has already blocked two bidders – Gunvor and U.S. bank Xtellus Partners – highlighting the geopolitical hurdles involved in a potential acquisition.
UPSTREAM OPERATIONS
Middle East
Lukoil’s biggest foreign asset is a 75% stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 2, one of the world’s largest oilfields. It declared force majeure at the field after Iraq halted payments.
So far, the field’s production remained steady at around 465,000 to 480,000 barrels per day, but Iraq’s cabinet has approved plans to nationalise operations to avert any future disruptions.
Under the plan, the state-run Basra Oil company will take over the operations for 12 months, two officials at the firm told Reuters.
Lukoil also owns 60% of Iraq’s Block 10 development, which includes the Eridu field west of Basra.
In Egypt, the company holds a 50% stake in the West Esh El Mallaha (WEEM) oilfield alongside Egypt’s Tharwa Petroleum, and has a 24% stake in the Meleiha concession, with the rest owned by Italy’s Eni.
In the UAE, Lukoil owns 10% of the Ghasha concession, one of Abu Dhabi’s largest gas developments, operated by ADNOC.
Central Asia
Lukoil holds 13.5% in Karachaganak and 5% in Tengiz – major Kazakh oil and gas projects operated by Western oil companies.
It also has a 12.5% stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which exports oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea.
Lukoil doesn’t have to sell these assets as the U.S. Treasury has allowed transactions involving Karachaganak, Tengiz and CPC.
The Russian firm also owns nearly 20% of the BP-operated Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
It also operates the South-West Gissar gas field in Uzbekistan and holds a 90% stake in the Kandym fields development near the country’s border with Turkmenistan.
Africa and Latin America
Lukoil has a 38% interest in the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block that includes the Pecan oilfield development off Ghana.
It also has 25% in Eni-operated gas block Marine XII offshore Congo and 18% in Chevron-operated exploration block OML 140 off Nigeria.
In Mexico, it partners with Eni in several offshore blocks and owns 50% of the Amatitlan block, operated by Petrolera de Amatitlan SAPI de CV.
REFINING ASSETS
In Bulgaria, Lukoil owns the 190,000 barrels per day Neftohim Burgas refinery, the largest in the Balkans. The Bulgarian government has made legal changes to seize and sell the assets.
The U.S. Treasury has allowed transactions involving Lukoil’s refinery and some of its other assets in Bulgaria until April 29, 2026.
In Romania, Lukoil owns the 48,600 bpd Petrotel refinery, the country’s third-largest, and around 300 gas stations. Three companies were interested in buying Lukoil’s Romanian assets, officials said in November, without elaborating.
Lukoil also owns exploration rights in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea, but drilling plans have been stymied by the sanctions.
In the Netherlands, Lukoil holds 45% in the 180,000 bpd Zeeland refinery, operated by a joint venture with France’s TotalEnergies.
FUEL RETAIL BUSINESS
The U.S. Treasury on December 4 extended the deadline for transactions with Lukoil’s gas stations outside Russia to April 29 this year.
Nevertheless, Lukoil-owned Finnish petrol station operator Teboil filed for restructuring on November 21, and said it expected the Russian owner to sell the chain which has about 430 gas stations, or about a fifth of the total in the country.
Romania approved on December 2 legal amendments enabling it to take control of Lukoil’s local assets, including more than 300 gas stations.
Lukoil is also one of the top fuel retailers in Moldova. The government has been negotiating to purchase Lukoil’s plane-refuelling facility at Chisinau’s international airport.
There are also about 200 Lukoil-branded gas stations in the U.S., one of which in New York was visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2003.
TRADING OPERATIONS
U.S. sanctions are dismantling Lukoil’s Swiss-based trading arm, Litasco, which once handled about 4% of global oil.
The company has dismissed most of its staff at its Geneva headquarters, as well as in Houston, while employees in Dubai have been served notice, but will be employed until February.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, Olesya Astakhova and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow, Robert Harvey and Anna Hirtenstein in London, America Hernandez in Paris, Essi Lehto and Elviira Luoma in Finland, Georgi Slavov and Stoyan Nenov in Bulgaria. Editing by Mark Potter, Elaine Hardcastle)
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