Russian Lukoil sells petrol stations in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary

Russian Lukoil has announced it is selling its petrol station networks in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported Aug. 6.

 “The decision to sell the assets was taken as part of an effort to optimize Lukoil’s business in petroleum product marketing,” the company said in a statement, as cited by the Bulgarian newswire Novinite.

 In the Czech Republic Lukoil sold all 44 of its petrol stations to Slovnaft Ceska Republica, which is controlled by the Hungarian energy giant, MOL. Another Hungarian entity, Norma Benzinkut Kft, bough 75 petrol stations from Lukoil in Hungary and an additional 19 in Slovakia. For the moment, Lukoil has not confirmed the possibility of selling of its Poland-based petrol stations.

 Lukoil will sell a total of 138 petrol stations.  All sale transactions are to be finalized by the end of 2014.

 This is not the first sale of Lukoil’s assets in recent days. On July 31, the company announced it had reach an agreement to sell 240 petrol station and six petroleum storage facilities in Ukraine to Austria’s AMIC Energy Management, which, according to Russian media, is a company incorporated a year ago by former Lukoil’s managers.

 The sale of Lukoil assets might also be seen as a consequence of economic sanctions initiated by the West due to the crisis in Ukraine, according to Bulgarian newswire Novinite.

 “The harsh economic sanctions initiated by western powers will have consequences for all Russian companies,” Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov warned.

Photo courtesy of Lukoil.