OFAC Renews, Amends Russia-Related General License for Lukoil
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week renewed and revised the language in a general license that authorizes certain transactions involving Lukoil retail service stations located outside Russia.
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General License 128B, which replaces 128A, authorizes certain transactions involving Lukoil International GmbH (LIG) or any entity it owns by 50% or more, including Lukoil North America LLC and Lukoil Americas Corp., as long as those transactions “are ordinarily incident and necessary to the purchase of goods and services from, or the maintenance, operation, or wind down of, physical retail service stations located outside” Russia.
Those transactions are now authorized through 12:01 a.m. ET on April 29. The previous license was scheduled to expire Dec. 13.
OFAC also issued a new FAQ to clarify what transactions are authorized, including those that may involve the entities that own, lease, franchise or operate retail service stations, including LIG entities “whose primary business involves the operation of such retail service stations.” The license allows financial institutions, payment processors and other entities to debit and credit the accounts of LIG entities “involved in the operations of retail service stations to effect transactions authorized by GL 128B.”
The license authorizes transactions “undertaken in the ordinary course of business for retail service stations,” which may involve “supply of motor fuel and lubricants; lease payments; insurance payments; property maintenance and environmental services; employee payroll, benefits, severance, and reimbursements; information technology services; payments to government authorities; and legal services and proceedings,” the FAQ said.
The agency said it extended the license until April to “mitigate harm to consumers and suppliers seeking to engage in ordinary transactions with retail service stations that involve LIG Entities.”