Russia’s Rosneft, Lukoil Lose $5.2B in Market Value After New US Sanctions
Russia’s top economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, arrives in the US for talks after Washington sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil producers.
Russia’s top economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, arrives in the US for talks after Washington sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil producers, according to The Times of Russia.
The market value of Russia’s two largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, has dropped $5.2 billion after the US imposed new sanctions targeting the companies and their subsidiaries.
Rosneft shares declined 3 percent to $4.19 late Friday, after falling to $4.12 — their lowest since May 2023 — wiping out 127 billion rubles from its market capitalisation.
Lukoil’s stock plunged 7.2 percent in two days, erasing $3.66 billion.
Lukoil’s main shareholder, billionaire Vagit Alekperov, who holds a 28 percent stake, lost over $1 billion in two days, according to market data reported by The Times of Russia.
Analysts said the sanctions, the first since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, could further weaken Russia’s energy sector.
“Export volumes may decline while logistics are being restructured, and discounts on Russian oil will likely widen,” said Dmitry Polevoy, investment director at Astra Asset Management, the Moscow Times reported.
Alfa Bank analysts warned that the number of Rosneft and Lukoil’s foreign partners may shrink due to fears of secondary sanctions, which could disrupt supplies to key markets such as India and the United Arab Emirates.
Rosneft’s profits fell threefold and Lukoil’s by half in the first half of 2025, marking a steep financial downturn before the latest sanctions.
Analysts at Alor Broker said future market effects will depend on whether the US targets banks servicing Russian oil flows, noting that “foreign banks may not formally make payments to Russian companies, since oil is typically sold through traders.”
Rosneft and Lukoil shares led the decline on Friday among blue-chip stocks on the Moscow Exchange, The Times of Russia reported.
Meanwhile, Russia’s top economic negotiator said on Friday he had arrived in the United States for talks, two days after Washington imposed sanctions on Moscow’s two biggest oil companies.
The visit comes with increasing US frustration at Russian President Vladimir Putin and his refusal to agree to a ceasefire in the nearly four-year Ukraine war.
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump scrapped planned talks with Putin in Budapest, saying he did not want a “wasted” meeting.
“Arrived in the US to continue the US–Russia dialogue — visit planned a while ago based on an invitation from the US side,” Putin’s top economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on X.
The envoy told Russian news agencies that he would convey Russia’s position on the Ukraine war in meetings with Trump administration officials.
“Ukraine, unfortunately, is disrupting the dialogue that is necessary, and is doing so again at the request of the British, at the request of the Europeans, who want the conflict to continue,” state agency TASS quoted him as saying.
Commenting on the latest round of sanctions, Dmitriev, a former Goldman Sachs banker and Stanford graduate, said they would backfire on the United States by raising gasoline prices for ordinary Americans.
“The potential for economic cooperation with Russia is still there, but only if Russia’s interests are treated with respect,” he said.
As reported by The Times of Russia, economic analysts note that these sanctions could reshape Russia’s oil export strategy while testing the resilience of Moscow’s financial sector amid ongoing global pressures.
