Sanctioned Russian oil major Lukoil has announced an agreement to sell its international assets, including holdings in Nigeria, to the American investment firm The Carlyle Group.
The deal, confirmed by Lukoil on Thursday, covers the company’s foreign portfolio in six countries: Iraq, Azerbaijan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, and Mexico. Assets in Kazakhstan are excluded from the sale.
The move follows intense pressure from Washington, which added Lukoil and state-run Rosneft to its sanctions blacklist in October 2025 to target Russia’s state finances.
The sanctions threaten secondary penalties against any entity doing business with the Russian firms, effectively locking them out of the U.S.-dominated global financial system.
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Lukoil stated the sale of Lukoil International GmbH is conditional on approval from the U.S. Treasury Department. Carlyle echoed this, confirming the agreement is structured for compliance and pending due diligence and regulatory clearances.
The Kremlin, while declining specific comment, called the sanctions “illegal” and emphasized that Lukoil’s interests must be protected. The news buoyed Lukoil’s shares, which rose 3.5% on the Moscow exchange.
For Russia, the forced divestment deals another blow to an economy strained by nearly four years of war and Western restrictions. The country’s oil and gas revenues, a critical source of war funding, fell to a five-year low in 2025.
The transaction, if approved, would transfer significant energy assets in strategic regions to a major Western financial player, marking a significant shift in the global oil landscape under the shadow of the Ukraine conflict.
