BUCHAREST, November 19. /TASS/. Oil companies are planning to acquire Lukoil's network of gas stations in Romania separately, excluding the refinery in Ploiesti, the portal HotNews.ro reported citing sources.

According to the portal, buyers are not interested in the refinery, which has outdated facilities and requires significant investment. Another reason is that the refinery has been refining high-sulfur Urals crude since 1998, requiring the installation of additional equipment. Potential buyers, who process other grades of crude, don't need this equipment.

However, interest in acquiring the gas station network is high. SOCAR Romania CEO Ramin Aliyev told the portal that "Romania has very little number of gas stations." Their number is 2,500, which is less than neighboring Bulgaria, which has over 3,000, despite having a population three times smaller. The portal's sources name the American investment company Carlyle, as well as Mol and Hellenic, as potential buyers of the gas station chain.

In October, the US Department of the Treasury included the oil company Lukoil and its subsidiaries in a new package of US sanctions.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed later, the new US restrictions will not significantly impact the country's "economic well-being." Furthermore, Putin noted that the sanctions represent an unfriendly act against Moscow that "does not strengthen Russian-American relations, which have only just begun to recover."