After US sanctions, Lukoil to sell assets to firm founded by Putin ally
Russian oil company Lukoil said on Oct. 30 that it had reached a deal to sell its foreign assets to Gunvor, a company founded by an ally of President Vladimir Putin.
Lukoil attributed the sale to the sanctions imposed by "certain countries" — an apparent reference to the U.S. sanctions introduced against Lukoil on Oct. 22.
The oil company said that Gunvor had offered to buy the assets, and the two companies had agreed on the key terms of the deal.
The deal has to be authorized by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the oil company said.
Gunvor, which is registered in Cyprus and headquartered in Switzerland, was founded in 1997 by Gennady Timchenko, a close associate of Putin, and Swedish billionaire Torbjörn Törnqvist.
In 2014 Timchenko sold his 44% stake in Gunvor to Törnqvist, who now holds 88% in the company.
The sale coincided with the U.S. sanctions imposed against Timchenko, who is a citizen of Russia and Finland, after Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
"Timchenko’s activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to Putin," the U.S. Treasury said then. "Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have access to Gunvor funds."
Gunvor has denied having any links to Putin.
Lukoil has assets in the U.S., Latin America, former Soviet countries, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as in Romania.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
