site.btaUS Extends Deadline for Lukoil Foreign Assets Sale to April 1

The United States has extended the deadline for an agreement to sell the foreign assets of the Russian oil company Lukoil to April 1, 2026, according to a document from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published on Thursday.

The OFAC license allows operations related to negotiations for the "sale, disposition, or transfer of Lukoil International GmbH", the Austria-based subsidiary of the Russian company Lukoil that holds the group’s foreign assets, including those in Bulgaria and its assets. The current license expires on February 28.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control has already extended three times the deadline for potential buyers to conclude a deal with Lukoil for its USD 22 billion in foreign assets, after Washington imposed sanctions on the two Russian oil companies.

On October 22, 2025, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) expanded its sanctions on Russia by designating that country's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. The idea was to step up economic pressure on Russia's energy sector, which is a critical source of revenue for the Kremlin's military operations in Ukraine.

The Lukoil assets in Bulgaria include Lukoil-Bulgaria EOOD (a chain of over 200 filling stations), Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD (the largest oil refinery in the Balkans), Lukoil Aviation Bulgaria EOOD (an aircraft refuelling operation), and Sustainable Energy Supply EOOD (marketing and trading in natural gas and other hydrocarbons).

The Bulgarian government adopted a decision in November appointing Rumen Spetsov as special commercial administrator to oversee Russian oil company Lukoil's four operations in Bulgaria.

Lukoil said at the time that it reserved the right to seek legal protection and stated that the activities of the appointed special commercial administrator should not obstruct the sale of its assets in Bulgaria.

Earlier in February, the United Kingdom extended the deadline of the general license for Lukoil’s subsidiaries in Bulgaria until August 13, 2026.

The Swiss company Litasco SA, a member of the Lukoil group and shareholder in Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD and Lukoil-Bulgaria EOOD, announced on Wednesday that it had sent a notice of dispute to the Bulgarian authorities and declared its intention to use all available legal instruments, including initiating arbitration proceedings before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).