Jeremy Paner Discusses the Potential Sale of Blocked Lukoil Assets

Jeremy Paner discussed an OFAC general license that could lead to the sale of certain blocked Lukoil assets in Bloomberg and Reuters.

This move comes after the U.S imposed sanctions last month on Russia’s two biggest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, for their role in generating revenue for Russia’s war in Ukraine. By issuing the license, the U.S. appears to be ramping up pressure on President Vladimir Putin to agree to a Ukraine peace deal, while also hoping to maintain lower oil prices.

In the Reuters article, Paner explained that the license that authorizes negotiations with Lukoil allows companies to enter into binding memorandums of understanding and other agreements, but the actual acquisition of the assets must be separately authorized by the Treasury through a specific license.

“Until Dec. 13 isn’t a whole lot of time,” Paner told Bloomberg. “OFAC is thinking that they’re authorizing potential acquirers to keep their place in line, but the actual closing of the deal will take a lot longer than 30 days, even if it’s a fire sale.”

Paner explained the limited scope of the authorization to Reuters: “the license that authorizes negotiations with Lukoil allows companies to enter into binding memorandums of understanding and other agreements, but the actual acquisition of the assets must be separately authorized by Treasury through a specific license.”

Read the Bloomberg and Reuters articles.