The Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery is part of a deal in which US billionaire Todd Boehly is buying the international assets of Russian oil giant Lukoil, BTA reported, citing a person in the US government. President Donald Trump and his administration back the deal, which would bring Washington billions of dollars.
This story follows our earlier report on the Burgas refinery's role in a deal for Lukoil's international assets. On 3 October we wrote that eight people familiar with the talks said the deal is being discussed as part of the Trump administration's talks with the Kremlin on ending the war.
Boehly is an American financier who sold his stake in Chelsea football club. The consortium he leads also includes the US International Development Finance Corporation. The sale covers Lukoil International, which owns the Burgas refinery. The deal also includes the Petrotel refinery in Romania and a 45% stake in the Zeeland refinery in the Netherlands.
Lukoil put its international assets up for sale because of sanctions imposed over the war Russia started against Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In March it wrote about $20bn off the value of its business, and its foreign assets are valued at $20bn. Proven and probable reserves abroad are about 3bn barrels of oil and gas, and output from them is roughly 250,000 barrels a day.
The US blocked an earlier attempt by trading firm Gunvor to buy the assets. The US licence for talks and conditional agreements with Lukoil on the sale of Lukoil International has been extended until the 22nd of this month.
The three European refineries have a combined capacity of about 400,000 barrels of oil a day. Petrotel has been shut since last year, when planned repairs began. After buying the refineries in Bulgaria, Romania and the Netherlands, the consortium plans production capacity of more than 350,000 barrels a day. A source familiar with the talks says that once the deal closes, another 100,000 to 150,000 barrels a day of refining capacity will go into operation.
Another source says nobody is investing in the assets because it is unclear who the new owner will be. Sources close to the process say Boehly has been working on the deal for months.
The deal is being delayed by a fuel shortage, mostly of diesel. The cause is the conflict in the Middle East and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, which are part of Ukraine's defence against the Russian invasion. The shortage is pushing up prices in the US and Europe.