Carlyle Reportedly Gets OFAC Clearance for $20B Lukoil Deal; Broader US Review Continues

The latest reporting changes the status. OFAC's general licence still only permits negotiations in the market at large, but Carlyle has reportedly received deal-specific Treasury clearance and is waiting on a wider US inter-agency decision.

Carlyle's proposed acquisition of Lukoil's overseas business has moved beyond the OFAC question that framed earlier versions of the deal. Financial Times reporting on September 22 says the private-equity firm has received clearance from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, while final US approval remains stalled in broader inter-agency discussions involving the National Security Council, State Department and Department of Energy.

That is a material change from the general sanctions framework.

OFAC's current General License 131J, updated September 18 and running until October 22, authorises negotiations, due diligence and contingent contracts for Lukoil International and its majority-owned subsidiaries. The general licence expressly does not authorise an actual asset transfer; buyers normally need separate authorization.

Carlyle, according to the FT, has now received that OFAC clearance for its transaction. The unresolved gate is the rest of the US administration.

Sanctions still reshape the sale economics

Treasury's published conditions explain why the process remains unlike normal M&A. Any approved divestment is expected to sever Lukoil International completely from the Russian parent. Funds owed to Lukoil are to remain blocked in a US-jurisdiction account while sanctions apply, and Treasury says it does not want structures that deliver an upfront windfall through cash, assets or share swaps.

The proposed transaction is reported at roughly $20 billion and includes European refineries as well as upstream interests. Carlyle has argued that gaining control could bring an additional 100,000 to 150,000 barrels a day of refining capacity into fuller use, according to the FT, at a time when fuel markets are tight.

Those operating assets may have value to a buyer precisely because sanctions have impaired how they are owned and financed. Lukoil cannot receive ordinary unrestricted sale proceeds while it remains sanctioned, and a buyer must navigate ownership separation, local approvals and continuing US review conditions.

October 22 is the expiry of the current negotiating licence. Carlyle's transaction now turns on a broader US-government decision that would move it from a Treasury-cleared buyer to completed owner across the rest of the approval process.

Editorial source record

• Financial Times, “Carlyle's stalled Lukoil deal leaves refineries idle in tight market,” 22 September 2026.
• US Treasury/OFAC FAQ 1224 and General License 131J, updated 18 September 2026.
• Lukoil announcement of the Carlyle agreement, January 2026.