Romania plans to operate Lukoil’s local refinery
The refinery owned by Russian group Lukoil in Romania, Petrotel, which is designed to refine Ural oil, a heavy and sulfurous oil, could be restarted within a few weeks after the United States waives the sanctions previously placed against…
iulian ernst · Journalist
· Updated · 1 min read
The refinery owned by Russian group Lukoil in Romania, Petrotel, which is designed to refine Ural oil, a heavy and sulfurous oil, could be restarted within a few weeks after the United States waives the sanctions previously placed against all Lukoil and Rosneft refineries operating outside Russia, Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan explained, quoted by News.ro.
If this happens, the Petrotel Lukoil refinery in Ploiesti will not refine Russian crude oil, but will bring it from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and the profit will not go to Russia.
It remains unclear, then, who would organize and finance the crude oil imports.
Romania previously placed Petrotel Lukol refinery under special management, such as to allow it to resume operations after a technical shutdown, in the context of Lukoil’s subsidiaries coming under sanctions dictated by OFAC.
"We filed a request to OFAC, the US International Office, which handles the sanctions against Lukoil at the international level, to allow us to restart the Petrotel Lukoil refinery,” Ivan said on April 9, speaking for Digi 24.
(Photo: Torsakarin/ Dreamstime)
