Lukoil Sells Four Gas Stations in Serbia, From 4,000 Euros
The Russian company has listed four mothballed gas stations in Serbia for sale, with bids due September 23, four days after its US license to negotiate asset sales expires.
Lukoil Serbia has put four mothballed gas stations up for sale, with starting prices ranging from 4,000 to 135,000 euros and a bidding deadline of September 23. The properties are located in Deliblato, Grliste and two in Pirot, sites the company has not used for regular operations for some time.
Prices by Location
The most expensive of the four stations is the one in Deliblato, with a starting price of 135,000 euros. At the other end of the scale is the Grliste station, whose starting price is just 4,000 euros, making it by far the cheapest property in this sale. The remaining two stations are in Pirot, with starting prices of 80,000 and 51,000 euros respectively. Bids for all four locations are being accepted until September 23, when the listing closes.
The sale is unfolding at a moment when US sanctions pressure on Lukoil remains the biggest obstacle to any transaction involving the company. Selling off mothballed, that is inactive, stations is the easiest part of the process, since it requires neither a buyer’s approval for the sale of larger assets nor a US license for the transaction itself. The price range, from 4,000 to 135,000 euros, also shows how different the four properties are from each other in location and condition, even though all four are held under the same company and the same listing.
A Deadline That Falls After the License Expires
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the US Treasury Department extended, on August 21, the deadline allowing Lukoil to negotiate the sale of its international assets, pushing it to September 19. The previous license had been set to expire on August 22, so the extension gave the company just under an additional month to talk with potential buyers.
The deadline for bids on the four Serbian stations falls on September 23, four days after that license expires. The mothballed stations in Serbia are not part of the same procedure as larger assets, such as refineries or an active network of stations, for which an OFAC license is a prerequisite, but the timing shows how tight the deadlines have become for the company on every front at once.
The Broader Picture of Lukoil’s Assets
Outside Russia, Lukoil owns roughly 2,500 gas stations in 19 countries, along with refineries in Bulgaria, Romania and the Netherlands. The sale of four stations in Serbia is a small part of that network by value, but it is the first concrete, publicly listed transaction with clear figures since the company received its extended negotiating window. Unlike refineries and larger infrastructure, which require a buyer prepared to go through regulatory approval, mothballed stations of lesser value can change hands faster, since the pool of interested investors is wider and more local. The combined value of the listed four, adding up all four starting prices, comes to 270,000 euros, a negligible sum next to the value of the refineries and the entire network of stations Lukoil holds outside Russia.
Srpske novine reported in late August on Lukoil’s extended deadline to September 19, while separately the question of a license for Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) is still awaiting a decision from US authorities on its status. The two processes are running separately, but both depend on the same regulator and the same sanctions calendar.
The next milestone for Lukoil is September 19 itself, the day its current license to negotiate asset sales expires. Whether the company will have closed the sale of the four Serbian stations by then, or whether that deadline too will need another extension, will depend on how many bids come in by September 23 and how willing OFAC remains to keep moving the line.
