A group of American gas station owners who had become one of the main casualties of a U.S. effort targeting two Russian oil companies said they were finally hopeful that turmoil at their businesses could soon end.
For months, the owners of about 200 Lukoil-branded stations have been caught in the high-stakes negotiations that appeared to move a big step closer to resolution on Thursday. Lukoil, one of the companies subject to Trump administration sanctions, announced that it was in talks to sell almost all of its foreign assets to the Carlyle Group, a Washington-based investment firm.
Lukoil said it was also negotiating with other potential buyers. Any deal will need the approval of the Treasury Department, but the Thursday announcement was welcomed by gas station owners who said the sanctions had wreaked havoc on their small businesses.
Fewer customers are stopping at Lukoil’s U.S. stations, all of which are in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. And credit card processing problems temporarily left some stations struggling to make ends meet in recent months.
“We are being dragged through this international conflict for no reason,” said Tarun Patel, who operates a Lukoil station in eastern Pennsylvania.
Mr. Patel and other owners said they hoped a deal between Lukoil and Carlyle or another buyer would make it easier for them to run their businesses. But some also said they were worried about how Carlyle might treat them or problems that might arise in the transfer of ownership.
In a statement, Carlyle said it recognized that some of Lukoil’s facilities were of “critical importance to nations’ infrastructure and domestic energy security.”
In October, the Treasury Department placed sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, the other Russian company it is targeting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the companies a part of “the Kremlin’s war machine.” The sanctions were meant to force Russia toward a peace deal with Ukraine.
But the Treasury Department rejected the first deal Lukoil reached to sell its international operations and told the company this month that it had to find a new buyer by Feb. 28 or risk punishments such as account freezes. The Treasury said on social media that it would “evaluate any proposed sale of Lukoil assets on factors that support U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives.”
The U.S. Lukoil stations are typically owned by family businesses that operate them as franchises. Some station owners told The New York Times that they were struggling because of delays in the processing of credit card transactions and other payments that began after the sanctions were imposed. The Treasury later issued a waiver to address that issue, but station owners said some problems persisted until this month.
For weeks, the owners said, they weren’t receiving checks from Lukoil on time because its bank accounts were frozen. That made it hard for owners to pay their vendors quickly.
“There were threats that insurance was going to cancel them because of the sanctions, but that got sorted out,” said Eric Blomgren, the executive director of the New Jersey Energy Marketers Group, a trade group. “Somebody told me they lost like 50 percent of their premium sales once they weren’t able to take American Express — now that works, but that was a problem.”
In October, Lukoil announced that it had accepted an offer from Gunvor, an oil-trading firm. But Gunvor withdrew its bid in early November after the Treasury rejected it. In December, the Treasury rejected another bid from a group led by an investment firm, Xtellus Partners, according to a Reuters report.
Mr. Patel, who runs a convenience store at his gas station with his wife, said cash had become so tight that they were forced to lay off their only employee. He has considered asking customers to use cash instead of credit cards, but feared alienating them and losing their business.
When Mr. Patel bought the station, it was operated by Mobil. Lukoil took over the location in the early 2000s. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he was harassed by customers who said he was funding the conflict. The gas and diesel that Mr. Patel and other Lukoil station owners sell is refined in the United States, not Russia. But that is not obvious to drivers. Other station owners have had similar experiences.
Lukoil stations also lost sales when a business that provides credit cards to the trucking industry, WEX, severed ties with Lukoil after the invasion.
Mr. Patel and other owners said that credit card payments returned to normal by early January but that sales had stayed weak because some drivers were still avoiding Lukoil stations.
“As a franchisee, you’re between two fires,” said Serguei Netessine, a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. “You can try to say, ‘I’m going to try to find another bank,’ but that violates your franchisee agreement, and for that, you can be sued.”
Dr. Netessine said the delay in finding a buyer for Lukoil’s international assets could leave U.S. station owners in limbo for some time.
Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, some longtime Lukoil franchisees said they were unhappy.
Gaganvir Singh has had gas stations in his family for three generations, and like Mr. Patel, he had little say in becoming affiliated with Lukoil. Three of his stations in New Jersey used the Mobil brand until 2004 when Lukoil bought a portfolio of Mobil-branded stations, leading to what Mr. Singh called “a sudden and abrupt change.” He also owns several non-Lukoil stations.
He said Lukoil takes a bigger cut from the sale of each gallon of gas than other oil companies did. As a result, he makes less money on gas from his Lukoil stations. He said the amount Lukoil collects can change with no explanation, making it harder for him to pay expenses like rent and wages.
“In some cases, we might be able to double or even triple our profit that we have right now if we’re free from Lukoil,” he said, adding that he has had to transfer funds from his other stations to pay employees of his Lukoil outlets.
Representatives for Lukoil did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Before the sanctions took effect, some franchisees said they began to receive notices accusing them of not abiding by their franchise agreements. The infractions included things like not repainting a pump island or parking space, and closing for one hour during an unprofitable time of day. The notices threatened, in some cases, to perform the maintenance and charge owners for it.
Then, once the Trump administration imposed sanctions in October, Lukoil representatives collected certified checks from Mr. Singh and other owners because electronic transfers had ceased. Occasionally, Mr. Singh said, representatives would call in the middle of the night and ask for certified checks by the morning or threaten to withhold gas deliveries.
Conditions have improved since electronic payments were restored this month, but Mr. Singh would still like to end his relationship with Lukoil. He wants to buy the land that his stations sit on, which is owned by Lukoil, but he is not sure he will be given that opportunity.
“These franchisees are small businesses, and they’re just trying to feed their families,” Mr. Singh said. “There’s no corporations or big-time players in this.”
Emmett Lindner is a business reporter for The Times.
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