Carlyle is one of the world's largest private equity, alternative investments and financial services companies, managing $474 billion in assets, the article says.
Carlyle is in the early stages of exploring a potential acquisition of the assets and plans to apply for a U.S. license that would allow it to buy the assets before financial due diligence begins, one of the people said. The source added that Carlyle may eventually back out of the deal.
Carlyle informed Lukoil of its intentions, the second source noted.
Adi Imsirovic, director of consultancy Surrey Clean Energy and a former head of oil trading at a Gazprom subsidiary, said Carlyle was significantly better suited to obtain US approval than Swiss trader Gunvor, which previously tried to do so.
The US Treasury has set a deadline of November 21, after which transactions with the Russian company will be prohibited. Lukoil has submitted a request to extend this period, Reuters reported on November 12.
Pickering Energy Partners chief investment officer Dan Pickering said the possibility is that Carlyle could acquire the assets at a discount, but whether they will be given time to properly evaluate their value is unknown.
Aditya Ravi, head of upstream research at Rystad Energy, says the situation is complicated by the fact that some countries are looking to nationalize some assets.
Context
The US Treasury imposed sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil on October 22, explaining this by that the illegitimate president of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, refuses to end the war in Ukraine. US President Donald Trump expressed hope that this will push Putin for negotiations.
The Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for sanctions policy, Vladislav Vlasyuk, explained that the sanctions also included subsidiaries of Lukoil and Rosneft, which cover all the main parts of the oil and gas business.
The company, which accounts for about 2% of global oil production, confirmed Oct. 27 that it is seeking buyers for its international assets and may seek an OFAC license extension if necessary.
Lukoil's international operations are experiencing increasing disruption, prompting the company to declare force majeure on its largest international asset, the West Qurna 2 oil field in Iraq.
