Carlyle Says Deal to Buy Lukoil International Assets Has Expired

US private equity giant Carlyle Group said its agreement to buy most of Lukoil PJSC foreign assets has terminated.

The agreement reached at the start of the year expired over summer and the group isn’t actively pursuing Lukoil’s assets, the company said in response to Bloomberg request for a comment. Earlier Lukoil International GmbH, a unit of the sanctioned Russian company, said in its annual report that the US Office of Foreign Assets Control didn’t rubberstamp the January deal and it lapsed at the end of July.

Russia’s No. 2 oil producer decided to sell its foreign operations almost a year ago after the US blacklisted the company — as well as peer Rosneft PJSC — to pressure the Kremlin into ending its war in Ukraine. Lukoil is the most diverse of Russia’s large oil companies, with stakes in refineries in Europe, significant holdings in oil fields from Iraq to Kazakhstan and a global network of fuel stations.

The firm initially agreed to sell the operations to energy trader Gunvor Group — now known as Centalion Group Ltd. — but that deal collapsed. Three months later, Carlyle stepped in to take the assets, though the transaction remained subject to regulatory approvals and Lukoil continued to talk with other potential buyers.

Read More: Carlyle Group Agrees to Buy Most of Lukoil’s Foreign Assets

OFAC didn’t immediately respond to a Bloomberg request for comment.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that an investor group led by American billionaire Todd Boehly was in talks to take a stake in Lukoil’s foreign assets.