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Lukoil studies potential sale of assets in Romania and Moldova
The energy company Lukoil is assessing this possibility in relation to EU sanctions on Russian oil firms after the country’s invasion of Ukraine, https://www.petrolplaza.com/news reads.
Lukoil is reportedly studying a potential sale of its businesses in Romania and Moldova following the European Union’s sanctions on Russian oil companies. The firm’s local portfolios include service station chains, a refinery in Ploiesti (Romania), a wind farm in Romania and oil depots located in both countries.
The news originated based on a series of local media reports replicated by the news site Balkan Insight. EU’s imposition of the new sanctions came into force on December 5 of last year, which affected several Russian firms’ activities, including Lukoil.
The Competition Council of Moldova states that the company’s subsidiary in the country owns 20% of the local fuel retail market. With 105 stations throughout the nation, the firm registered in 2021 a profit of approximately 60 million lei, the Moldovan currency, which amounts to nearly 3 million euros. It also handles about 40% of diesel imports and 33.5% of gasoline imports to Moldova.
In Romania, the site points out that the company owns about 315 gas stations and employs approximately 3,000 people in the country. As the third largest fuel retailer in the nation, it’s estimated that its retail network is worth nearly 13 billion lei, close to 2.6 billion euros.
Balkan Insight notes that there are two potential buyers for both businesses, Royal Dutch Shell and KazMunaiGaz. The former is the largest player across the whole continent and has already sold its Russian assets to the company last May, while the latter owns a network of Rompetrol stations in both countries.
Recent changes in Lukoil involve the resignation of its former Chairman, Vagit Alekperov, after occupying the position since 1993 and the death of its Board’s Chairman, Ravil Maganov, who allegedly lost his life by falling from the window of a hospital in Moscow last September.