Swiss commodities trader Gunvor has withdrawn its offer to acquire the international assets of Russia’s Lukoil after the US Treasury said it would “never” approve a licence for the transaction.
The move, announced late on Thursday and confirmed on Friday morning in Europe, stalls what would have been one of the most significant restructurings of Russian energy holdings since sanctions were tightened in October.
In a post on social media, the US Treasury described Gunvor as a “Kremlin’s puppet” and said that, while Russia’s war continues, the company would not be permitted to operate or profit from Lukoil’s assets.
President Trump has been clear that the war must end immediately. As long as Putin continues the senseless killings, the Kremlin’s puppet, Gunvor, will never get a license to operate and profit.
— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) November 6, 2025
Gunvor rejected the characterisation as “fundamentally misinformed and false” and said it would pull its proposal while seeking to clarify the record with US authorities.
Lukoil disclosed last week that it had accepted an offer from Gunvor to acquire Lukoil International GmbH, the subsidiary holding the group’s non-Russian businesses. Any completion required US approval because Washington’s wind-down licences expire on 21 November, a timetable designed to allow divestments and other transitions to occur before sanctions take full effect.
The package under discussion spanned refining, retail and upstream interests. In Europe, Lukoil owns refineries in Burgas, Bulgaria, and Ploiești, Romania, as well as a 45% stake in the Zeeland Refinery in the Netherlands via Litasco. Across the continent it operates about 2,000 service stations and related logistics. These assets were among those being prepared for disposal following the October measures.
The indicative value of Gunvor’s bid at about $22 billion. In the days before the withdrawal, Gunvor warned that blocking a sale could risk supply disruptions and job losses tied to the south-eastern European refineries and associated retail networks.
Gunvor was founded in 2000 by Torbjörn Törnqvist and Gennady Timchenko, a long-time associate of Vladimir Putin. Timchenko sold his stake in March 2014, a day before he was sanctioned by the United States following Russia’s annexation of Crimea; Törnqvist assumed control.
In an email to EU Today, Gunvor’s corporate affairs director Seth Thomas Pietras said the company has been majority-owned by Torbjörn Törnqvist since 2014 (86.12%, with the balance held by employees), has no outside investors, and that this ownership structure was scrutinised and cleared during the European Commission’s 2024 review of Gunvor’s acquisition of a 75% stake in Spain’s Bahía de Bizkaia Electricidad; he added that the group is subject to rigorous KYC checks by more than 75 international banks.
Separately, in 2024 Gunvor pleaded guilty in a US case involving historic bribery in Ecuador and agreed to more than $660 million in penalties and forfeiture.
The US and UK announced new measures against Lukoil and state-controlled Rosneft in late October as part of plans to reduce Russian oil revenues and increase pressure for a ceasefire. Alongside designations, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued short-duration general licences authorising wind-down activity and certain transactions related to Lukoil’s non-Russian retail operations until 21 November.
Operational effects are already visible outside Europe. Iraq’s state oil marketer, SOMO, cancelled three November cargoes linked to Lukoil’s equity production at the West Qurna-2 field amid uncertainty over sanctions. The cancellations highlight the wider trading risk around Lukoil’s portfolio as buyers, financiers and insurers assess compliance exposure.
Kyiv has welcomed the escalation. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said partner assessments suggest US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil could affect 56–57% of Russia’s oil exports, though he cautioned that the scale of impact would become clearer after enforcement settles. Market analysts note that while near-term physical shipments from Russian ports have continued, tightening restrictions on finance, shipping and insurance are expected to exert increasing pressure through November.
Gunvor’s withdrawal shifts attention to other potential buyers for Lukoil’s overseas businesses, particularly in south-eastern Europe. Governments in Bulgaria and Romania are monitoring implications for fuel supply and employment around the refineries. Any transfer of stakes in strategic infrastructure will attract regulatory scrutiny and, in some jurisdictions, specific ministerial approvals. Absent a licensed transaction before the wind-down deadlines, assets may be forced into prolonged interim arrangements under national frameworks.
For now, the proposed sale to Gunvor is off. The combination of an expiring US wind-down window and firm opposition from Washington has underscored the difficulty of structuring disposals that satisfy sanctions authorities while preserving value. As the 21 November deadline approaches, Lukoil’s divestment options will depend on whether other suitors can convince regulators that a transfer neither benefits sanctioned persons nor undermines the intended effect of the sanctions regime.
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