Kazakhstan Seeks U.S. Approval to Buy Lukoil’s Kazakh Assets

Kazakhstan has filed a formal bid with the U.S. Treasury seeking authorization to buy out the Kazakh assets of Russia’s sanctioned oil firm Lukoil, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said on Wednesday. The United States sanctioned Lukoil at the end of October, which prompted the Russian firm, the country’s second-largest oil producer, to seek a sale of its foreign assets. Soon after, Lukoil accepted a bid from trading house Gunvor for its assets outside Russia, but the U.S. Treasury blocked the sale, saying…