Russian oil giant Lukoil announces sale of international assets after Trump directly targets it with sanctions
The booth of Lukoil, one of the most important Russian oil companies, at the 28th International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg (SPIEF), Russia, on June 18, 2025. PHOTO: SEFA KARACAN / AFP / Profimedia
Russian oil giant Lukoil will sell its assets abroad, the company announced Monday evening after being hit by US sanctions over the war in Ukraine, France Presse and Reuters reported.
US President Donald Trump last week imposed his first significant package of sanctions on Russia, targeting its two biggest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, after expressing frustration with Moscow's failure to halt its offensive in the neighboring country.
“Due to the introduction of restrictive measures against the company and its subsidiaries by some states, the company announces its intention to sell its international assets,” Lukoil said in a statement.
The Russian energy giant added that the bidding process has already started.
The company did not mention the specific assets to be sold.
After a series of diplomatic efforts this year and the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years, efforts to end the war are currently frozen with no signs of progress.
Shortly before the sanctions were imposed, Trump canceled a planned summit in Hungary with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin leader meanwhile said the measures taken by the Washington administration were “serious” but not enough to crush the Russian economy, which is already under numerous international restrictions.
The sanctions will freeze all assets of Rosneft and Lukoil in the United States and prohibit American companies from doing business with them.
The two companies, which account for 55% of Russia's oil production, were also included on the SDN list of entities under sanctions, a register followed by many countries and feared in the business world.
Washington has given firms that work with Russian entities a month to sever ties or face secondary sanctions that would bar them from accessing American banks, traders, carriers and insurers.
The Lukoil company owns the Lukoil Neftohim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria, with a capacity of 190,000 barrels per day, the largest in the Balkans, as well as the Petrotel refinery in Romania (in Ploiesti).
Lukoil supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia, as well as Turkey's STAR refinery, owned by Azerbaijan's SOCAR, which is heavily dependent on Russian crude.
The company also has stakes in oil terminals as well as fuel distribution chains in Europe and has various projects in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, as well as in Africa and Latin America.
The Petrotel Ploiesti refinery has been for sale for almost ten years, but the investors were not interested. One of the causes is the fact that the refinery has outdated facilities and requires very large investments, an oil specialist explained to HotNews. Due to the sensitivity of the subject, the expert requested confidentiality.
