The Petrotel refinery should start operating, because a letter was received from the American authorities, which had to be compliant in terms of criteria, former Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan said on Monday.
“A letter was received that had to be compliant in terms of criteria and (Petrotel-Lukoil) should start operating based on that letter. (…) From the data I received from my colleagues, normally, from the moment the final decision is made, but after you have already done the tests, after you have signed the contracts for the supply of oil compatible with the Petrotel facilities, the first fuel molecules should be produced,” the former Energy Minister explained to Agerpres.
He stressed that oil will not be imported from the Russian Federation but from other oil producers compatible with the one refined at Petrotel.
“It is the same quality that can come from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. 100% oil will not be imported from the Russian Federation. There are producers and suppliers of oil compatible with the one refined at Petrotel, which comes from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. This is 100% the case. We did not start in a direction without having a guarantee that we also have oil”, Bogdan Ivan specified.
He had announced, on April 14, that he had received official confirmation from the Government of the United States of America for the derogation from the sanctions against Lukoil, so that Romania could restart the Petrotel-Lukoil refinery, which, through this mechanism, will be able to operate again in 45 days.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Trump administration extended until October 29 the deadline for Lukoil to sell its foreign gas stations, according to a statement posted on the U.S. Treasury website and cited by Reuters.
Lukoil has about 2,000 gas stations in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, North and South America. Lukoil is one of the leading fuel retailers in the Republic of Moldova and Bulgaria and operates about 600 gas stations in Turkey and more than 300 in Romania.
Lukoil was included in the list of entities sanctioned by the United States in October 2025, which attracted interest from potential buyers for the Russian oil giant’s international assets, estimated at $22 billion.
The U.S. Treasury also issued a license allowing certain transactions with Lukoil refineries in Bulgaria, including Lukoil Neftohim Burgas JSC.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said last year that money from any sale of Lukoil assets would have to be placed in an account under US jurisdiction, with the funds frozen until sanctions against Lukoil were lifted.