Exxon Mobil may acquire part of Lukoil's foreign assets

Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented on the options for the LUKOIL's foreign assets sale to Business FM:

"The core assets, which are primarily production companies, partly oil refining, are too expensive for national companies in Kazakhstan, Hungary, and the countries where they operate. In any case, the Western majors are contenders for them. Chevron may have difficulties due to the fact that most recently, in the summer of 2025, the company completed a huge takeover deal for Hess. The deal was worth almost $60 billion, which is a lot, and it is not fully clear how financially Chevron is now ready to invest $ 10-15 billion in the takeover of Lukoil's assets. Exxon Mobil has more opportunities in this sense, and the company itself is also larger. There may be a division of assets in large parts. After all, Lukoil has worked in more than a dozen countries, these are different working conditions, assets with different characteristics, so they can be divided into different configurations. Lukoil would most likely like to sell everything in a single package simply because it is faster, more efficient, and most likely the marginal cost in this case will be higher. Some peripheral assets can also be sold to local companies. It is the core, which makes up the extraction and partially processing, that is most likely to be given either into one hand or can be divided between two companies. If these companies are American, then everything that happens will very much resemble a raider takeover."