Russia’s Lukoil intends to sell foreign assets amid sanctions

Russia’s second-largest oil producer, Lukoil PJSC, announced plans to sell international assets amid US and UK sanctions.Lukoil is considering bids from would-be buyers, the company said on its website on Monday. The divestment process is being conducted under a wind-down licence from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, according to Lukoil. The company is prepared to seek an extension of the licence “to ensure uninterrupted operations of its international assets.”

The decision follows the “introduction of restrictive measures against the company and its subsidiaries by some states”, Lukoil said.

Last week, US President Donald Trump’s administration slapped sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil producers — Lukoil and state-controlled Rosneft PJSC — to pressure the Vladimir Putin regime to end the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, the UK blacklisted the two companies.Lukoil is the most internationally diverse of Russia’s oil giants, with upstream businesses in former Soviet countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The company also has operations in Iraq, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana and elsewhere.

The Russian producer also has a network of 5,300 retail fuel stations in 19 countries around the world as well as refineries in Europe.

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