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Lukoil has agreed to promote most of its worldwide property to Swiss commodity dealer Gunvor after the US moved to impose sanctions on the Russian oil producer.
Russia’s second largest oil producer mentioned on Thursday that it had accepted a suggestion from Gunvor for Lukoil Worldwide, the subsidiary that owns the group’s overseas property, and had agreed to not negotiate with different consumers. It didn’t disclose the worth.
The deal would come with most of Lukoil’s operations exterior Russia, which make use of about 15,000 folks, together with companies within the US, Belgium and the Netherlands, based on an individual conversant in the matter.
Lukoil mentioned it was promoting its worldwide enterprise “on account of restrictive measures of some states launched in opposition to the corporate and its subsidiaries”.
The estimated complete worth of Lukoil’s abroad property is about $12bn, mentioned Sergei Kaufman, an analyst at Moscow-based brokerage Finam.
“It’s inconceivable to promote such a broad vary of property and not using a low cost, even when there was a preliminary settlement in place,” he added. “We estimate the low cost could possibly be round 20 to 30 per cent.”
Gunvor had shut ties to Russia. It was based in 2000 by Torbjörn Törnqvist and Gennady Timchenko, one in every of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest associates. For a few years, Gunvor was the most important exporter of Russian oil.
Timchenko bought his 43.5 per cent stake to Törnqvist after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
US President Donald Trump final week imposed what he known as “super sanctions” on Lukoil and bigger oil producer Rosneft that goals to “degrade” Putin’s conflict chest and enhance strain on Moscow to finish the conflict in Ukraine.
Not like Rosneft, which is state managed, Lukoil is a non-public firm, however some analysts say it aligns itself with the Kremlin’s pursuits.
Gunvor declined to remark.
