$22 BILLION DEAL: Russian Lukoil Sells Majority of Overseas Assets to Americans

Russia’s second-largest oil producer, Lukoil, announced that it has reached an agreement to sell most of its overseas assets to the American investment firm Carlyle Group in a deal valued at around $22 billion.

According to the company, the agreement covers the sale of its subsidiary “Lukoil International,” which includes “Lukoil Serbia.” Analysts estimate the total value of Lukoil’s foreign assets at approximately $22 billion.

The transaction, however, has not yet been finalized and depends on meeting certain preconditions, primarily obtaining regulatory approvals. These include authorization from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Lukoil stated in a release reported by Reuters.

The company also emphasized that the signed agreement is not exclusive.

The United States imposed sanctions on Lukoil and Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, last October, citing these measures as a response to slow progress in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

So far, the U.S. Treasury has blocked two attempts to sell Lukoil’s assets: the first in October, involving Swiss group Gunvor as a potential buyer, and the second in December, which proposed a share-swap arrangement through Xtellus Partners, a former U.S. branch of the Russian VTB bank.

Lukoil has been given a deadline of February 28 to sell its global portfolio, according to the U.S. Treasury Department statement.