The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department has postponed the entry into force of sanctions against the foreign business of Russian Lukoil until February 28, 2026.

The corresponding license No. 131B concerns operations related to negotiations and conclusion of agreements on the sale of assets of the “subsidiary” of the Russian oil giant Lukoil International GmbH and its controlled companies, the department’s website reports .

However, it remains necessary to obtain a separate OFAC permit for each such transaction. At the same time, the license does not allow the transfer of funds to the Russian Federation or the unblocking of sanctioned assets.

Lukoil International GmbH, headquartered in Vienna, operates over a hundred subsidiaries in about 50 countries and includes the trading company Litasco with offices in Geneva and Dubai. Lukoil’s foreign production assets are concentrated in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, the UAE and African countries and provide about 5% of total production. Key assets include a 75% stake in the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq.

Lukoil’s international assets also include a network of over 5,300 gas stations in 20 countries, including the United States, and several petrochemical plants in Europe.

What is known about the sale of Lukoil assets?

As reported, on October 23, the administration of US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions against Russia for the first time since he took office in January 2025 “due to Russia’s lack of serious commitment to the peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”

The sanctions target Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as all of their subsidiaries. OFAC initially set a November 21 deadline for the companies to wind down their overseas businesses.

Immediately after that, Lukoil announced the sale of its international assets to trader Gunvor Group . However, the US Treasury Department refused to issue Gunvor a license to acquire foreign assets of Russian Lukoil until Russia ends the war in Ukraine, calling the contender a “puppet of the Kremlin.” Meanwhile, governments of a number of countries are already preparing to nationalize or take over the company’s assets to avoid their shutdown.

OFAC subsequently postponed the imposition of sanctions against Lukoil’s international businesses until December 13, and later until January 17, 2026 .

Separately, OFAC granted permission to complete transactions with Lukoil’s assets in Bulgaria, and also postponed the entry into force of sanctions against Lukoil’s retail gas station business abroad until April 29, 2026. At the same time, the US exempted projects related to the export of oil from Kazakhstan through Russia from the need to comply with sanctions.

If a new buyer is not found, Lukoil could lose around 14 billion euros worth of its overseas assets, according to the Financial Times. Lukoil’s owners are already preparing for the possibility that their assets could simply be taken away, sources told the FT. However, negotiations are currently underway to sell them with a number of companies, including from the US.

Author:  Mykhailo Orlyuk Джерело: https://censor.net/n3595625

(C)CENSOR.NET 2026