Overview
- Lukoil’s deadline to divest foreign assets is reported to have been pushed from November 21 to December 13, according to Bloomberg, though no formal U.S. announcement was cited.
- Iraq’s SOMO halted payments and crude loading from the Lukoil‑operated West‑Qurna‑2 field, where the company holds a 75% stake and recent output was about 480,000 barrels per day.
- Lukoil declared force majeure after delivery and payment disruptions, seeking protection from contractual penalties as transactions with its units are frozen by banks in several countries.
- Washington’s sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft blocked a proposed sale of assets to trader Gunvor, which withdrew its offer after the U.S. Treasury labeled the firm a “marionette of the Kremlin.”
- Host governments have moved to safeguard local energy supplies, with Bulgaria advancing state control of the Burgas refinery and Finnish banks freezing payments to Lukoil’s Teboil unit, putting jobs at risk.