The story
Founded by Vagit Alekperov on Nov 25, 1991.1
Origins
"Langepas, Uray, and Kogalym" oil (Lukoil) was established by the Soviet Union Council of Ministers Decree No. 18 on 25 November 1991, as a state-owned enterprise. In the new company, three oil production companies, Langepasneftegaz, Uraineftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, processing company Permnefteorgsintez, and the Volgograd and Novosibirsk refineries, were merged (the latter soon came under the control of the authorities of Bashkortostan).
The central figure in the company's founding was the Soviet deputy minister of oil production Vagit Alekperov. He came to believe the only way Russians could compete against Western companies was to copy their business model. That meant vertically integrating the three branches of the industry—exploration, refining, and distribution—that were strictly separate under the old Soviet system.
On 5 April 1993, Lukoil transformed itself from a state-owned enterprise to a private open joint-stock company based on Presidential Decree No. 1403 of 17 November 1992.
1990s
In 1994, Lukoil became the first company to begin offering shares of stock on the new Russian Trading System. The Filanovsky oil field was discovered and operated by Lukoil.
In 1995, Lukoil controlled the stakes of nine oil-producing, marketing and service enterprises in Western Siberia, the Urals, and Volgograd Oblast to abide by Government Decree No. 861 of 1 September 1995. In that same year, a 5% stake of Lukoil was sold by the state with a minimum excess of the starting price in an auction. In November 1995, Lukoil filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue American depositary receipts on Western stock markets. This allowed United States investors, for the first time, to purchase shares in a Russian company.
In 1997, Lukoil signed a contract with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil for the development and production of the second stage of the West Qurna-2 oil field. After Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown, the project was suspended and later terminated.
In 1999, Lukoil acquired numerous enterprises such as the Odesa Oil Refinery in Ukraine, the Burgas Oil Refinery in Bulgaria, and KomiTEK.
2000s
In 2000, Lukoil acquired the distribution and marketing operations of American oil company Getty Oil. This resulted in the control of a network of gas stations in the United States, as well as the first time Lukoil entered the American oil market.
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In September 2004, ConocoPhillips purchased a 7.6% stake in Lukoil for about $2 billion. According to some commentators, the sale of this deal was planned before in a personal meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and ConocoPhillips' president and CEO, James Mulva. After the auction, Lukoil and ConocoPhillips announced the creation of a strategic alliance. Later, the American company increased its stake to 20% in Lukoil and sold to the Russian company part of its network of gas stations in the United States and Western Europe. The two oil companies also agreed to jointly develop an oil and gas field in the northern Timan-Pechora area of Russia (Komi Republic) and intended to secure the rights to develop the West Qurna Field in Iraq, one of the country's largest.
Uzbekistan's deputy prime minister Ergash Shaismatov announced on 30 August 2006 that the Uzbek government and an international consortium consisting of state-run Uzbekneftegaz, Lukoil Overseas, Petronas, Korea National Oil Corporation, and China National Petroleum Corporation signed a production sharing agreement to explore and develop oil and gas fields in the Aral Sea, stating "The Aral Sea is largely unknown, but it holds a lot of promise in terms of finding oil and gas. There is risk of course but we believe in the success of this unique project". In December 2006, Lukoil announced the acquisition of 376 filling stations in six European countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, from ConocoPhillips.
In 2007, Lukoil established a joint-venture with Gazprom and in 2008, established a joint-venture as well with Italian oil company Erg S.p.A. In 2009, Lukoil and Norwegian oil company Statoil won a tender offer for the development of the West Qurna Field in Iraq. However, in early 2012, Statoil withdrew from the project, resulting in Lukoil consolidating a 75% stake in the development of the oil field.
2010s
From 2010 to February 2011, ConocoPhillips sold its whole 20% stake in Lukoil due to its difficult financial situation.
In September 2012, Lukoil created a shared service centre in the Czech Republic to provide accounting services to its subsidiaries in Belgium, Poland, and Bulgaria. In December 2012, Lukoil bought the Imilor field for ₽50.8 billion in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug to explore and develop the hydrocarbon deposits located there.
In February 2013, Lukoil sold the Odesa Oil Refinery to the Ukrainian "East European Fuel and Energy Company" (VETEK). For Lukoil, the oil refinery was unprofitable even before production was stopped as early as October 2010, and it finally closed in the summer of 2013. In April 2013, Lukoil agreed to buy Hess Corporation's Russian unit for $2.05 billion.
In 2014, the company faced a sharp decline in retail sales in Ukraine by 42%, caused by Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result, the management of Lukoil agreed to sell 100% of its subsidiary Lukoil Ukraine to the Austrian company AMIC Energy Management, which was announced at the end of July 2014.
In 2014, Lukoil sold its service stations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
In 2015, it sold its service stations in Estonia and Ukraine, and in 2016, it sold its service stations in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Cyprus.
2020s
In March 2022, Lukoil's market stock price dropped 95 percent, as a result of international sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 21 April 2022, Lukoil issued a statement saying that president Vagit Alekperov had stepped down and resigned from the board of directors after 29 years.
The Norwegian state-owned oil company Equinor exited the last of their joint ventures in Russia by withdrawing the joint venture with Lukoil and exiting the Kharyaga project on 2 September 2022.
In 2023, Lukoil stated they were planning to double the production of oil from the Iraq project, West Qurna-2, to 800,000 bpd. By November 2025, they had achieved only 60% of the goal, at 480,000 barrels per day; still making it approximately nine percent of Iraq's total oil output.
Lukoil was involved in schemes of illegal party financing and money laundering by the group of Moldovan pro-Russian fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, as reported on a 16 September 2025 Moldovan newspaper Deschide.MD article, citing sources from Moldova's State Fiscal Service (SFS).
In November 2025, Gunvor made a $22 billion offer to acquire Lukoil’s international assets, including oil refineries in Romania and Bulgaria, petrol stations in Europe and the United States, and oil and gas operations in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. The proposed purchase came after U.S. sanctions were imposed on Lukoil and other Russian oil companies. In November 2025, Gunvor withdrew its bid after the U.S. Treasury announced that it would block the deal, describing the company as a “Kremlin’s puppet” and stating that no licence would be issued while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued. Gunvor rejected the allegations as “fundamentally misinformed and false,” emphasizing that it had sold its Russian assets more than a decade earlier and had publicly condemned the invasion.
On 4 November 2025, Lukoil declared force majeure at the West Qurna-2 oil field in Iraq, which Lukoil owned a 75% stake of, due to the impact of Western—especially U.S. and British—sanctions, and may exit the field entirely. Iraq immediately halted all cash and crude oil payments to Lukoil. The field had been producing around 480,000 barrels per day, approximately nine percent of Iraq's total oil output.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lukoil, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4