Carlyle ends active pursuit of Lukoil’s international oil assets

US investment firm Carlyle is no longer "actively pursuing" the purchase of international assets of Russian oil major Lukoil, the company's spokesperson told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, Oct.9.

Lukoil, sanctioned by the US in October 2025, signed an agreement with Carlyle in January 2026 to sell its international subsidiary, which owns most of its foreign assets.

The deal, subject to the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control approval, expired at the end of July, according to the document submitted by Lukoil to the Austrian authorities Sept. 30.

The Sale and Purchase Agreement "expired at the end of July because it was not approved by OFAC. Intensive negotiations are currently underway with other interested parties regarding the potential acquisition of the [Lukoil International] Group," Lukoil said in the document.

A source familiar with the matter, but not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed the deal expiration date to Platts.

Carlyle declined to comment on the details of the released document. Lukoil did not respond to Platts' request for comment.

OFAC said Sept. 18 that it renewed its sanctions waiver until Oct. 22 to allow Lukoil to complete the sale of its international assets. After the announcement of US sanctions, Lukoil signaled its intention to sell foreign assets but did not provide a deadline for the transaction.

Lukoil has stakes in a retail network of fuel stations across Central and Eastern Europe as well as in three European refineries, Bulgaria's Neftohim Burgas facility, Romania's Petrotel refinery and the Zeeland plant in the Netherlands, with a combined processing capacity of 400,000 barrels/day.

Lukoil's international portfolio also includes the Shah Deniz project in Azerbaijan, the West Qurna 2 project in Iraq, and upstream assets in Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Mexico, the UAE and the Republic of Congo. In Romania, Lukoil holds the EX-30 Trident exploration permit in the Black Sea.

Lukoil's stakes in Kazakh projects were not part of the agreement with Carlyle, according to the Russian company.

Before agreeing to sell its assets to Carlyle, Lukoil reached an agreement with global commodities trader Gunvor, but the deal was not authorized by the US. On Nov. 6, 2025, the U.S. Treasury described the trader as "the Kremlin's puppet" in a post on X. The trader was co-founded by Gennady Timchenko, a sanctioned Russian businessman and close ally of Vladimir Putin. Another company co-founder and former CEO, Torbjörn Törnqvist, has since left the trading house and the company changed its name to Centalion.

The US Treasury Department was not immediately available for comment.