Gunvor is no longer buying Lukoil's assets abroad. The USA has conveyed that they will never approve an agreement with the “Kremlin puppet” / What is happening with the Petrotel refinery and Lukoil gas stations in Romania
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
Commodity trader Gunvor Group announced on Thursday that it was withdrawing its bid to buy the international assets of Russia's largest private oil company, Lukoil, after the US said it would “never” approve the deal, Politico writes.
The US Treasury Department said that the trader Gunvor is “Kremlin's puppet.
“President Trump has been clear that the war must end immediately. As long as Putin continues his senseless killings, Kremlin puppet Gunvor will never get a license to operate and profit,” the US Treasury Department wrote on the X account.
“The Treasury Department's statement is fundamentally misinformed and false,” Gunvor spokesman Seth Pietras told POLITICO. “Meanwhile, Gunvor withdraws its proposal on Lukoil's international assets.”
Gunvor and the connections with Russia
A week ago, Gunvor Group Ltd announced that it wants to buy Lukoil's assets abroad.
The Gunvor Group stated, a few days ago, that it has started discussions with the regulatory authorities regarding the acquisition of the foreign assets owned by Lukoil.
Commodity trader Gunvor Group is prepared to address any concerns about Russia's continued influence over the assets it buys from Russia's Lukoil LKOH.MM, CEO Torbjorn Tornqvist told Bloomberg News, according to Reuters.
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 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.
The fate of the Lukoil refinery and gas stations in Romania is becoming uncertain
In Romania, Lukoil's most important assets are the Petrotel-Lukoil refinery and the Lukoil Romania network, with approximately 320 distribution stations, both of which are owned by Litasco, based in Switzerland.
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.
The company that operates the refinery, Petrotel – Lukoil SA, has not yet submitted its financial statements for 2024, the delay being almost five months.
Another company owned by Lukoil, Lukoil Romania SRL, which operates the gas station network, submitted its tax returns, showing a loss of 145 million lei in 2024.
Even Litasco SA Geneva Sucursala Bucharest, a company dealing with the wholesale trade of fuels, have not yet submitted their financial statements for 2024, the delay being almost five months. According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, the latest financial information is from 2023.
The legal deadline for submitting accounting balance sheets is May 31. The non-submission of the balance sheet by a large taxpayer may attract tax checks from ANAF, being considered a risky company.
