Lukoil's overseas assets are once again up for sale: the deal with Carlyle fell through

Carlyle, one of the largest U.S. investment firms, announced that its agreement to purchase the majority of the overseas assets of the Russian oil company “Lukoil” has lapsed. The agreements, which were signed at the beginning of the year, expired back in the summer, and Carlyle is no longer pursuing the acquisition of these assets, Bloomberg reports, citing a company statement.

Previously, a subsidiary of the sanctioned Russian company “Lukoil” — Lukoil International GmbH — stated in its annual report that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had not approved the January agreement with Carlyle, after which these arrangements expired at the end of July. Carlyle itself confirmed to Bloomberg that the agreement had expired and that the company is not currently actively seeking ways to acquire these assets.

OFAC did not respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported that a group of investors led by American financier Todd Bowley is in talks to acquire a stake in Lukoil’s overseas assets. The Financial Times also reported on his interest in these assets in late September. At that time, the newspaper noted that Bowley had already secured the support of the U.S. government and influential investors from the Gulf states with ties to President Donald Trump’s family in order to close the deal.

"Lukoil," Russia's second-largest oil producer, was forced to put its overseas operations up for sale after falling under U.S. sanctions last year. Outside Russia, it owns stakes in European refineries, major oil fields stretching from Iraq to Kazakhstan, and a global network of gas stations, according to Bloomberg. Lukoil has valued its overseas operations at 1.67 trillion rubles ($20 billion).

Initially, in the fall of 2025, the Russian company had agreed to sell these assets to the oil trader Gunvor, but the deal fell through—it was blocked by the U.S. Treasury Department. Three months later, Carlyle joined the negotiations, according to Bloomberg; however, the agreement with the investment firm also required regulatory approval. In the summer, the process of finalizing the deal with Carlyle stalled at the interagency level within the Trump administration, the Financial Times reported. And in September, the newspaper learned that a consortium led by Bowley had begun competing with Carlyle for the Russian oil company’s overseas assets.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor