• Gunvor drops bid for Lukoil’s foreign assets after U.S. sanctions warning
• Deal covered major African oil stakes; valued at $22B with no debt
• U.S. stance blocks approval; Lukoil must find new sanctioned-compliant buyer
  

Swiss commodities trader Gunvor said on Nov. 6 it had withdrawn its bid for the overseas assets of Russia’s Lukoil.

The move followed the U.S. Treasury’s branding of Gunvor as “Kremlin’s puppet,” saying it “will never receive a license to operate and profit” while Moscow wages war in Ukraine. The decision ends what would have been Gunvor’s largest deal since its creation.

President Trump has been clear that the war must end immediately. As long as Putin continues the senseless killings, the Kremlin’s puppet, Gunvor, will never get a license to operate and profit.

— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) November 6, 2025

Deal’s Financial and Regulatory Hurdles

Gunvor had proposed buying Lukoil International GmbH, the Austrian subsidiary grouping the Russian firm’s foreign assets.

Lukoil International held major African interests, including a 20% stake in Nigeria’s OPL 245 block with ENI and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); 38% of Ghana’s Deepwater Cape Three Points block operated by Aker Energy; 25% of Congo-Brazzaville’s Marine XII block; and concessions in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez and Eastern Desert.

Financially, Lukoil International GmbH reported $22 billion in equity at the end of 2024, including $18.8 billion in fixed assets and $3.2 billion in cash, with no debt declared. Gunvor, by comparison, held $6.8 billion in equity. Given their size, the deal was unusually large for Gunvor and would have required complex financial and regulatory arrangements.

Lukoil announced on Oct. 30 that it had accepted Gunvor’s bid, pending approval from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). But the Treasury’s public stance has now made any agreement impossible.

Lukoil’s Sanctions Challenge

The planned sale of Lukoil’s overseas assets aimed to cushion the impact of U.S. sanctions adopted in late October against Russia’s oil sector. The measures ban transactions with Russian oil companies and set a Nov. 21, 2025 deadline for winding down operations before secondary sanctions take effect.

Gunvor’s withdrawal further complicates Lukoil’s effort to divest its non-Russian assets. The company must now find a buyer able to win approval from U.S. authorities, as Western sanctions tighten against the Russian economy.

Olivier de Souza