• Carlyle is assessing whether it can buy Lukoil’s foreign assets worth about $22 billion.
• The fund must determine if a U.S. government license is required due to sanctions.
• Lukoil’s overseas assets include refineries, oil projects, and fuel stations across several regions.

The U.S. fund The Carlyle Group is studying the possibility of acquiring the overseas oil and gas assets held by Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer. According to international media reports published on Thursday, November 13, the deal concerns a portfolio valued at around $22 billion based on Lukoil’s 2024 accounts.

Carlyle is only at the early stage of the process. The fund is examining whether the transaction is workable. To do so, it must first determine whether a license from the U.S. government is required, since Lukoil and several Russian entities are subject to sanctions. Without such authorization, no acquisition can proceed.

At this stage, Carlyle is working to understand what it would be buying. The fund is reviewing the strength of the assets, the conditions under which they operate in each country, and the rules that govern their activities. The goal is to avoid any unexpected issues before moving further.

Lukoil’s foreign assets include refineries in Europe, stakes in oil projects in Iraq, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, and Mexico, as well as hundreds of fuel stations, including in the United States. In 2024, the company accounted for about 2 % of global oil production and generated more than 0.5 % of global supply through its non-Russian assets, according to its own data cited by Reuters.

Washington has already blocked a previous attempt to sell these assets to Swiss trader Gunvor ahead of a sanctions deadline set for the end of November. This precedent explains why any new deal must be assessed under strict regulatory rules.