Sheikhs are eyeing Lukoil's assets

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

"It seems to me that either an investment fund or an oil and gas company like Chevron will buy the core of the assets. Conditionally, peripheral assets can be bought by various other players, including national operators and regional companies. But there is unlikely to be a single buyer for all assets. The process itself will take a long time, because we are talking about assets in many countries, in some cases government approval is required. This is a months-long process. It may be hindered by parallel processes of the Ukrainian settlement. If the plans that the Trump administration is announcing now are really taken into account, then, of course, Lukoil has a clear incentive to slow down the sales process, and buyers, respectively, and the US Treasury have the same incentive to speed up the process. In any case, it will take at least until the spring of 2026, maybe even longer."