EditLukoil, Boehly and the Dmitriev channel: is the deal entering its final phase?
The issue is not simply who pays the highest price. It is what happens to these assets after they leave Russian ownership
The battle for Lukoil’s international assets may be moving from a sanctions-management exercise into the wider architecture of the emerging US-Russia economic relationship, writes Ilian Vassilev.
Ilian Vassilev is a former Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow, now a media publisher and commentator. His website Altanalyses is a content partner of EUalive.
Something important may be happening around Lukoil’s international assets.
The key development is not simply Todd Boehly’s emergence as a new bidder. It is the timing.
According to the Financial Times, as reported by Reuters, Boehly has secured the backing of the U.S. government and of Gulf power brokers with links to the Trump family for a bid for Lukoil’s international assets.
Billionaire close to Trump family emerges as prospective buyer of Lukoil assets
The move would challenge Carlyle, which reached a conditional agreement with Lukoil in January but has still not received the final U.S. authorization required to complete the transaction.
Lukoil strikes deal to sell international assets to Carlyle Group amid U.S. sanctions
The portfolio, reportedly valued at around $22 billion, includes strategically important refining and distribution assets in Europe, including Lukoil’s operations in Bulgaria and Romania.
Lukoil itself confirmed in January that it had agreed with Carlyle on the sale of Lukoil International GmbH, while making clear that the transaction remained subject to regulatory approvals, including OFAC authorization. The agreement was non-exclusive, and Lukoil said discussions with other potential buyers were continuing.
That distinction is important. Publicly available information does not establish that OFAC has already approved Carlyle. The current U.S. licensing framework permits negotiations and contingent agreements, but requires a separate authorization for the actual sale or transfer of Lukoil International assets.
And then comes Kirill Dmitriev.
The Dmitriev channel
On 23 September, Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev travelled to New York for meetings with Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and other Trump administration representatives.
Reuters reported that the agenda included not only Ukraine but also U.S.-Russian economic cooperation and energy issues. The visit followed the 5 September meeting in Moscow between Putin, Witkoff and Kushner, in which Dmitriev also participated.
Dmitriev’s importance lies in the economic and sanctions dimension of the U.S.-Russia relationship. During previous contacts with Witkoff and Kushner, Reuters reported, he had been involved in negotiating a sanctions waiver for Russian seaborne oil.
Put the three elements together – Boehly, Dmitriev, and the Witkoff-Kushner channel – and a larger picture emerges.
There is not enough evidence to establish a direct connection between Dmitriev’s meetings and the Lukoil transaction. But the timing is difficult to ignore.
The Lukoil transaction may no longer be simply a corporate acquisition. It could become part of a broader restructuring of the relationship between Washington and Moscow over Russian energy, sanctions and the post-war economic order.
Why the buyer matters
Lukoil’s international portfolio is not an ordinary collection of commercial assets. It includes refineries, distribution networks, filling stations and upstream interests across several countries. The final nod on the deal rests with President Putin.
For Washington, therefore, the issue is not simply who pays the highest price. It is what happens to these assets after they leave Russian ownership.
This is particularly important in Bulgaria and Romania.
Lukoil’s refinery in Burgas and its extensive Bulgarian distribution network have given Russia an unusually deep position in the country’s petroleum system. In Romania, the Petrotel refinery provides another significant regional foothold.
These assets influence refining capacity, fuel supply, logistics and the structure of regional petroleum markets. Their ownership therefore has a geopolitical dimension.
OFAC’s latest guidance makes this point particularly significant. In setting the conditions for a future authorization of a Lukoil sale, Treasury says it expects buyers to seek OFAC review before any subsequent divestment of material Lukoil assets.
In other words, Washington is concerned not only about who buys Lukoil today. It is also concerned about who might own or control the assets tomorrow.
Moscow’s possible “buyback option”
There is another element that deserves greater attention.
For Russia, losing Lukoil’s international assets is not simply a financial setback. It means potentially losing long-term geopolitical leverage.
The Kremlin may therefore not necessarily be seeking to prevent the sale. Its longer-term objective could be to preserve an option to regain ownership or influence once sanctions are eventually lifted.
There is no public evidence that such an arrangement has been agreed. But the strategic logic is straightforward.
If sanctions are temporary, today’s forced divestment raises a question about tomorrow: who owns the assets when the geopolitical conditions that produced the sanctions disappear?
A future Russian return would not necessarily require restoration of the current corporate structure. It could come through a new ownership vehicle, Russian-linked investors, a joint venture, minority participation, financing arrangements or long-term supply agreements.
In other words, Moscow may not need to preserve legal ownership today. It may only need to ensure that the door is not permanently closed.
This matters especially for Bulgaria and Romania, where Lukoil’s assets have strategic importance well beyond their balance sheets.
A transaction backed by Washington and strategic Gulf capital could make a future Russian return considerably more difficult. The timing therefore matters: completing the sale before the November midterm elections could lock in an ownership structure before a potential shift in the political balance in Congress.
A more flexible financial ownership structure, by contrast, could preserve greater room for Moscow to rebuild influence once sanctions eventually begin to loosen.
This is above all a question of political timing: which ownership structure becomes difficult to reverse before the political environment changes?
The October deadlines
The immediate clock is provided by the sanctions regimes.
OFAC’s General License 131J expires on 22 October 2026. It authorizes negotiations and contingent contracts but does not authorize the actual sale or transfer of Lukoil International assets. Any transaction remains contingent on a separate OFAC authorization.
The UK operates a separate sanctions regime. OFSI’s license covering the continuation of business with Lukoil’s Bulgarian entities has been extended until 29 October 2026.
This creates two regulatory clocks, not one.
By October, Washington may therefore have to decide whether to authorize Carlyle, accommodate a Boehly-led transaction, extend the current framework again, or impose a different structure.
Is the deal entering its final phase?
There is still insufficient evidence to conclude that a final transaction has been agreed.
But the chronology is striking.
A new bidder emerges with reported U.S. government and Gulf backing, while Witkoff and Kushner are talking to Putin’s personal envoy, Dmitriev. Carlyle’s January agreement remains unresolved. OFAC’s negotiation license expires on 22 October. At almost exactly the same time, Putin’s economic envoy is back in direct discussions with representatives of the Trump administration, with economic cooperation and energy on the agenda.
This makes it increasingly difficult to treat Lukoil as simply an M&A story.
The transaction now sits at the intersection of sanctions policy, European energy security, Trump-Putin diplomacy and the emerging post-war economic order.
The critical question is therefore not simply who buys Lukoil.
It is who controls the strategic assets, under what restrictions, with what possibility of future resale — and whether Moscow retains an option to regain influence once the sanctions architecture changes.
That is particularly consequential for Bulgaria and Romania. The Lukoil deal may indeed be entering a decisive phase. But the real deal may be considerably larger than the sale itself.
Caption: A view of a Lukoil gas station in Moscow, Russia, 25 June 2026. The rising prices and sales limitations of fuel at some gas stations come as a result of repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 22 June that the Russian government is taking measures to address fuel prices and remains in close coordination with oil companies. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
Updated: September 26, 2026 - 16:46
