Russia’s second largest oil producer Lukoil is set to sell its Ukrainian downstream business in a bid to “enhance efficiency” of its Eastern European assets.
The agreement with Austria’s AMIC Energy Management covers Lukoil-Ukraine CFI, which owns around 240 filling stations and 6 petroleum tank farms in the country.
Currently, the companies are “interacting as part of the due diligence of assets and are preparing to sign a sale-and-purchase contract,” a Lukoil statement said.
“The sale of the filling-station network and petroleum tank farms in Ukraine to AMIC will help Lukoil optimize its asset structure and distribution-network management system in Eastern Europe, to which we attach great importance seeking to enhance the efficiency of our business in terms of petroleum-product sales,” said Vadim Vorobyov, Lukoil vice president.
Managing Director of AMIC Energy Management said: “Given that Lukoil-Ukraine is one of the top five leaders of the Ukrainian fuel market in terms of the number of filling stations and the volume of retail petroleum-product sales, its purchase is a strategically important step to improve AMIC’s investment portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our partners for their willingness to positively consider our offer to purchase the retail network.”
The deal follows a blockade by members of Ukraine’s ultra-nationalist Right Sector group in western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankovsk on Tuesday.
The activists seized three of the six Lukoil gas stations, demanding 100 free liters of gasoline per day to satisfy the demands of the Ukrainian Army, according to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reported.