The United States extended for the fourth time on Tuesday the deadline for potential buyers of Lukoil's international assets to negotiate a sale with the Russian company after Washington imposed sanctions on it last year, the US Treasury Department said, quoted by Reuters.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department extended the deadline by another month, to May 1. This is the period in which interested companies can acquire Lukoil's overseas assets, valued at $22 billion.
Washington imposed sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies - Rosneft and "Lukoil", with the aim of reducing Russia's ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
Among the companies and businessmen who have expressed interest in acquiring "Lukoil"'s international assets are the American investment company "Carlisle", oil giants "Exxon Mobil" and "Chevron", the Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate "International Holding Company" and Austrian entrepreneur Bernd Bergmayr, the former majority owner of a group of adult content channels, including the website "Pornhub".
Any specific deal with "Lukoil" to purchase the company's international assets would require the approval of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department, which has already rejected the Swiss commodities trader as a candidate. "Gunvor".
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is delaying the sale of "Lukoil"'s international assets as a means of pressuring Russia in its negotiations with Ukraine, four sources told Reuters in February.