A number of petrol nozzles at a petroleum pump – Kckate16/Getty Photographs
Filling up your automotive with fuel is a kind of each day routine issues that many individuals put virtually no thought into. Whereas a small portion of drivers put effort into researching the varied tiers of gasoline and which manufacturers supply them, many others simply cease at whichever fuel station has the bottom worth or is most handy to go to.
Except they’re deep into gasoline science or have a long-running model loyalty, the identify on the pumps means little or no, not to mention the nation a model comes from. This is the reason numerous Individuals is perhaps unaware that one in all Russia’s largest oil corporations has a large retail presence in sure elements of the nation.
Lukoil is Russia’s second-largest oil firm and was established within the waning days of the Soviet Union. Its giant, world footprint presently consists of round 200 fuel stations working within the Northeastern United States. Nevertheless, the times of American Lukoil stations being Russian-owned are seemingly coming to an finish, with the corporate asserting plans to unload its worldwide operations to a U.S. funding group.
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Lukoil emblem on fuel station roof – Jannissimo/Shutterstock
Whereas Russia’s world standing as a serious exporter of petroleum is well-known, precise Russian-owned gasoline retailers are much less widespread exterior of Russia itself, and particularly in America. And even in the USA, you in all probability have not encountered a Lukoil station until you occur to reside in New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, the place the overwhelming majority of those stations are positioned.
Lukoil was established as a Russian state-owned oil firm in 1991, simply earlier than the Soviet Union collapsed, and the corporate got here underneath personal possession in 1993. Lukoil established its American retail presence in 2000, when it acquired Getty Oil and its franchised gasoline stations within the Northeast. Past these American retail stations, Lukoil’s worldwide operations additionally embrace subsidiaries in about 30 nations worldwide, together with the Center East, Europe, and South America.
Curiously, Lukoil isn’t the one fuel station chain within the U.S. owned by a rustic that has a rocky relationship with America as of early 2026. Citgo, which has a good bigger presence within the U.S., has truly been not directly owned by Venezuela for many years. Each gasoline manufacturers have come underneath authorized and diplomatic stress from the U.S. authorities.
Lukoil fuel station in Russia – FotograFFF/Shutterstock
In regular occasions, the nation a gasoline model originates from may not be a giant deal. Nevertheless, the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine warfare in 2022 triggered wide-reaching world sanctions in opposition to Russia and Russian-owned corporations which have had strategic and financial impacts internationally and even affected Russia’s joint area operations.
Lukoil has carried out its finest to distance itself from the Russian authorities and to navigate the sanctions, which intensified in 2025 because the U.S. started pushing for an finish to the Ukraine warfare. Nevertheless, with the U.S. authorities realizing that Lukoil has virtually 200 franchised fuel stations in America, it granted Lukoil a waiver that permit the stations keep open even with the sanctions.
As of January 2026, it appears an answer to this difficult state of affairs might have been discovered. American funding group Carlyle has reached an settlement to buy all of Lukoil’s worldwide operations. Although the deal has not but been finalized or authorised by the U.S. Treasury, Carlyle says it goals to maintain the portfolio working as is, albeit underneath new possession that is fully severed from Russia. In the mean time, it is unclear precisely what this implies for the Lukoil stations in America. New possession might imply the American Lukoil community is offered off to a special model, however Carlyle might also hold the stations in operation as they’re now, slightly below a brand new model identify.
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