Filling up your car with gas is one of those daily routine things that many people put almost no thought into. While a small portion of drivers put effort into researching the various tiers of gasoline and which brands offer them, many others just stop at whichever gas station has the lowest price or is most convenient to visit.
Unless they are deep into gasoline science or have a long-running brand loyalty, the name on the pumps means very little, let alone the country a brand comes from. This is why a lot of Americans might be unaware that one of Russia’s largest oil companies has a sizable retail presence in certain parts of the country.
Lukoil is Russia’s second-largest oil company and was established in the waning days of the Soviet Union. Its large, global footprint currently includes around 200 gas stations operating in the Northeastern United States. However, the days of American Lukoil stations being Russian-owned are likely coming to an end, with the company announcing plans to sell off its international operations to a U.S. investment group.
From Russia to the American Northeast
While Russia’s global status as a major exporter of petroleum is well known, actual Russian-owned gasoline retailers are less common outside of Russia itself, and especially in America. And even in the United States, you probably haven’t encountered a Lukoil station unless you happen to live in New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, where the vast majority of these stations are located.
Lukoil was established as a Russian state-owned oil company in 1991, just before the Soviet Union collapsed, and the company came under private ownership in 1993. Lukoil established its American retail presence in 2000, when it acquired Getty Oil and its franchised gasoline stations in the Northeast. Beyond these American retail stations, Lukoil’s international operations also include subsidiaries in about 30 countries worldwide, including the Middle East, Europe, and South America.
Interestingly, Lukoil is not the only gas station chain in the U.S. owned by a country that has a rocky relationship with America as of early 2026. Citgo, which has an even larger presence in the U.S., has actually been indirectly owned by Venezuela for decades. Both gasoline brands have come under legal and diplomatic pressure from the U.S. government.
Sanctions and buyouts
In normal times, the country a gasoline brand originates from might not be a big deal. However, the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022 triggered wide-reaching global sanctions against Russia and Russian-owned companies that have had strategic and economic impacts across the world and even affected Russia’s joint space operations.
Lukoil has done its best to distance itself from the Russian government and to navigate the sanctions, which intensified in 2025 as the U.S. began pushing for an end to the Ukraine war. However, with the U.S. government knowing that Lukoil has almost 200 franchised gas stations in America, it granted Lukoil a waiver that let the stations stay open even with the sanctions.
As of January 2026, it seems a solution to this tricky situation may have been found. American investment group Carlyle has reached an agreement to purchase all of Lukoil’s international operations. Though the deal has not yet been finalized or approved by the U.S. Treasury, Carlyle says it aims to keep the portfolio operating as is, albeit under new ownership that’s completely severed from Russia. At the moment, it’s unclear exactly what this means for the Lukoil stations in America. New ownership could mean the American Lukoil network is sold off to a different brand, but Carlyle may also keep the stations in operation as they are now, just under a new brand name.
