Will The Share Of The Lukoil Plant In Novopolotsk Be Bought By A Company Created By Putin's Oligarch?
- 31.10.2025, 12:33
The deal is in jeopardy because of the U.S. stance.
Lukoil, against which U.S. sanctions were imposed last week, announced that it has accepted an offer from trader Gunvor. The latter is ready to buy out the assets of LUKOIL International, including the EddyTech oil plant in Novopolotsk.
In Gunvor, as "Kommersant" writes, confirmed the planned deal.
The assets of LUKOIL International are estimated at $19 billion. Among them are subsidiaries Litasco and LUKOIL International Upstream Holding, through which Lukoil owns refineries in Bulgaria and Romania, a 45% stake in a refinery in the Netherlands, more than 2,000 filling stations, storage and blending facilities.
LUKOIL International has lubricants production facilities in Belarus, Austria, Romania, Finland, a wind power project in Romania and solar power plants in Austria, Bulgaria and Romania. The lubricants plant in Belarus was established in 2006 together with Naftan and was called LLK-Naftan for a long time. Sanctions forced it to be renamed EddieTech in the 2020s.
LUKOIL International is also engaged in oil and gas exploration, discovery and production in Romania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Ghana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Mexico and Russia. LUKOIL International is also the owner of 12.5% of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (connecting Kazakhstan's largest fields with the Black Sea coast near Novorossiysk).
The main problem in the implementation of this deal, as experts point out, may be its approval by the United States. It may not be given, given Gunvor's previous ties with Russia.
The fact is that Gunvor was created in 1997 by Vladimir Putin's good friend Gennady Timchenko and Torbjorn Tornqvist. In March 2014, hours after US sanctions were imposed on him, Gennady Timchenko announced the sale of 44% in Gunvor to his partner. Tornqvist owns 84.79% of Gunvor at the end of 2024, with Gunvor Employee Shareplan holding the rest, the trader reported.