US Extends Deadline for Lukoil Foreign Asset Sale Talks to November 21 After Carlyle Drops Its Bid
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has extended the deadline for companies to negotiate with Russian oil major Lukoil about buying its foreign assets until November 21, according to Reuters. The extension came after US private equity firm Carlyle Group dropped its bid earlier this month.
Washington imposed sanctions in October 2025 on Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil producer, and on Rosneft, its largest, in a bid to reduce Moscow's ability to pay for its war in Ukraine. Lukoil's foreign assets were put up for sale last year, while Rosneft has not announced any divestments.
Carlyle had initially agreed on January 29 to buy Lukoil's assets excluding those in Kazakhstan, and was in talks to partner with Abu Dhabi-based funds Mubadala, XRG and IHC, as well as the US International Development Finance Corporation. The Lukoil portfolio, initially valued at around $22 billion, had attracted interest from at least a dozen companies, including Exxon Mobil and Bernd Bergmair, a former owner of Pornhub.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 莫斯科一座 Lukoil 加油站资料图（Gennady Grachev 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / A Lukoil gas station in Moscow, file photo (photo by Gennady Grachev, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
