Commodity dealer Gunvor Group has withdrawn its supply for the worldwide property of sanctioned Russian oil producer Lukoil PJSC after the US Treasury Division known as it “the Kremlin’s puppet” and stated the oil and fuel dealer would by no means get a license.
Gunvor pushed again on the Treasury touch upon social media, calling it “essentially misinformed and false.” The Geneva-based firm stated it could search to right a “clear misunderstanding” however that it could withdraw its bid for now.
President Trump has been clear that the warfare should finish instantly. So long as Putin continues the mindless killings, the Kremlin’s puppet, Gunvor, won’t ever get a license to function and revenue.
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— Treasury Division (@USTreasury) November 6, 2025
The remark is a outstanding volte-face after per week through which Gunvor has been in talks with the US Workplace of International Property Management, a part of the Treasury Division, and different our bodies accountable for sanctions to assist press its case for a deal that may have remodeled it into an built-in oil producing and processing colossus. Gunvor swooped on the property on the finish of final month following the US blacklisting of Lukoil and fellow Russian oil large Rosneft PJSC, and its exit could depart the door open to different suitors.
Gunvor on Thursday additionally introduced it had raised $2.81 billion in a credit score facility financed by US arms of world banks. Like different main commodity merchants, the agency funds the majority of its trades of oil, fuel and metals world wide with financial institution financing.
For the dealer, the feedback are prone to revive questions on its connections in Moscow at a time when many oil business members are cautious of any hyperlinks to Russia.
The dealer’s co-founder, Gennady Timchenko, is a buddy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and when the US imposed sanctions on him in 2014, it claimed that Putin had investments in Gunvor. The corporate denied the declare, which was offered with out proof, and Chief Government Officer Torbjörn Törnqvist purchased out his Russian accomplice’s stake within the firm.
For Lukoil’s portfolio, the deal would signify a “clear break” away from Russian affect or management, Törnqvist advised Bloomberg in an interview. He additionally dominated out promoting any of the property again to Russia’s second largest oil producer if sanctions have been to be eliminated.
“Gunvor is and has at all times been open and clear about its possession and enterprise, and has for greater than a decade actively distanced itself from Russia, stopped buying and selling consistent with sanctions, bought off Russian property, and publicly condemned the warfare in Ukraine,” Gunvor stated in an announcement Thursday. “We welcome the chance to make sure this clear misunderstanding is corrected.”
The Treasury Division assertion about Gunvor is essentially misinformed and false. Gunvor is and has at all times been open and clear about its possession and enterprise, and has for greater than a decade actively distanced itself from Russia, stopped buying and selling consistent with…
— Gunvor Group (@Gunvor) November 6, 2025
The Treasury assertion on the X social media platform got here with no additional clarification. The US Treasury didn’t reply to a request for remark concerning the social media submit.
Massive deal
Lukoil had shocked the market when saying the deal final Thursday. Lukoil Worldwide reported an fairness worth of $21 billion in 2023 — greater than thrice Gunvor’s personal fairness worth.
The property on the market consisted of world upstream manufacturing equal to the variety of every day barrels pumped by the nation of Ecuador, key coastal refineries in Europe and a petroleum station community that stretches from New York to Istanbul.
Already one of many largest merchants of oil and liquefied fuel, the deal would have remodeled Gunvor to the very high desk of commodities buying and selling and right into a hybrid producer, going from having zero upstream capability to round 440,000 barrels of oil and condensate, based on Bloomberg calculations — almost as a lot as Diamondback Power Inc., one of many Permian Basin’s largest impartial producers.
In the meantime within the oil market, analysts will likely be watching to see how the withdrawal of Gunvor’s bid impacts provide if US, UK and European authorities don’t grant an extension of Lukoil’s license to wind down transactions involving them.
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