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
Gunvor Group Ltd, which would buy Lukoil's assets abroad, is a commodity trading company in the field of energy (oil, gas, LNG). It is registered in Cyprus and has its main office in Geneva, Switzerland. The company was founded in 2000 by Gennady Timchenko, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.
Timchenko co-founded the company with Torbjörn Törnqvist, an oil magnate from Sweden.
In March 2014, Timchenko sold all holdings to Törnqvist, in the context of US sanctions. Timchenko was sanctioned by the US following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
According to a 2022 report, Törnqvist owned 85.7% of the shares, with the rest held by employees.
Allegations of bribery
In September 2023, Swiss prosecutors indicted a former employee of the company for paying bribes to gain access to the oil market in the Republic of Congo. Following an eight-year investigation, the company was ordered to pay 94 million Swiss francs ($94 million) in 2019 over bribery allegations.
According to a statement published on the website of the US Department of Justice, in March 2024, the Gunvor company pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe Ecuadorian officials and is required to pay more than $600 million in criminal penalties.
In 2022, Pakistan State Oil Company Limited won an arbitration against Gunvor, in which it was awarded $14.6 million in damages, for overpriced gas supplies.
Revenues of $136 billion
Gunvor operates in over 100 countries, has offices in Geneva, Singapore, Houston, etc. On its website it says that it has traded 232 million tons of goods, that it has revenues of 136 billion dollars and 2,000 employees.
He also has business in oil refining. In 2016, it acquired the Kuwait Petroleum Europoort refinery from Kuwait Petroleum International, to expand its refining activities in Western Europe.
In 2023, it signed a partnership with VARO Energy to build a sustainable aviation fuel facility in Rotterdam.
Russian oil giant Lukoil announced Thursday morning that it had received an offer for its overseas assets from Gunvor.
Among its foreign assets are those in Romania, where Lukoil has the Petrotel refinery and a network of over 300 gas stations. These are not explicitly mentioned in the Thursday press release of the Russian company.
“The key terms of the transaction have been agreed,” Lukoil said, adding that it accepted Gunvor's offer and pledged not to negotiate with other potential buyers.
The conclusion of the contract depends on obtaining the approval of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury, the statement states. Lukoil was sanctioned by the United States last week due to Russia's “lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”
Lukoil has found a buyer for its assets abroad. The Russian company has the Petrotel refinery and hundreds of gas stations in Romania
