Lukoil in talks to sell Romanian and Moldovan assets, Shell among prospective buyers

Russia’s group Lukoil is reportedly seeking to sell its assets in Romania and Moldova, Ziarul Financiar reported at the end of December. Dutch-British group Shell is reportedly among the prospective bidders for the distribution networks.

Lukoil operates some 300 fuel stations in Romania and over 100 stations in Moldova. But a large part of the assets consists of the Petrotel refinery operated by Lukoil in Ploiesti, 60km north of Bucharest.

Shell previously operated in Romania until it sold its 59 furl stations to MOL in 2005 and the LPG distribution business to Rubis in 2007. The refining would, however, be a new line of business in the country for the anglo-dutch group.

The Kazakh group KazMunayGas, which operates Romania’s largest refinery Petromidia (close to Constanta, on the Black Sea coast) is also among the prospective bidders for Lukoil’s assets, according to Mold-Street.com.