Swiss commodities trader Gunvor has retracted its $22 billion offer to acquire the international assets of Lukoil, a major Russian oil company, after the U.S. Treasury Department indicated it would block the transaction and labeled Gunvor as a “puppet of the Kremlin.”
On Thursday, the Treasury announced via X that the United States would “never” issue a license allowing Gunvor to manage Lukoil’s assets while Russian President Vladimir Putin “continues the senseless killings” in Ukraine.
Gunvor responded by describing the Treasury’s statements as “fundamentally misinformed and inaccurate,” asserting that it has “actively distanced itself from Russian oil trading for over a decade, divested its Russian assets, and has publicly condemned the war in Ukraine.”
Despite this, Gunvor informed Politico Europe that it would withdraw its bid “for the time being.”
Last week, Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil firm, accepted Gunvor’s offer, following new U.S. sanctions that would prevent the company from conducting international operations starting on November 21.
The Treasury’s decision to halt what would have been Gunvor’s largest acquisition raises uncertainties regarding the future of Lukoil’s global operations.
The proposed acquisition would have encompassed Lukoil’s worldwide investments, including refineries in Bulgaria and Romania, a network of around 2,000 gas stations across Europe and the U.S., as well as oil and gas projects in Kazakhstan, Iraq, Mexico, and Uzbekistan. The Financial Times estimated the total value of these assets at $22 billion.
The package of U.S. sanctions also affected the state energy corporation Rosneft.
Lukoil has not provided any comments regarding the failed deal.
Gunvor was established in 2000 by Swedish entrepreneur Torbjörn Törnqvist and Russian oligarch Gennady Timchenko and was previously the largest exporter of Russian crude oil.
Timchenko, a close associate of Putin, sold his 43.6% stake in the company in 2014, just prior to U.S. sanctions imposed on him in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. At that time, the Treasury claimed that Putin had “investments in Gunvor,” a statement that the company has consistently denied.
