Exclusive | Trump-backed Lukoil bid aims to restart refineries, deliver billions to US Treasury

The Trump administration is backing a deal for Russian oil giant Lukoil’s overseas assets that is poised to deliver billions of dollars to the US Treasury and bring shuttered refining capacity back online, a government insider told The Post.A consortium led by investor Todd Boehly and including the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is seeking to purchase fields that span Asia, Europe, Africa and North America and produce more than 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day — roughly as much as the US added in new crude production last year — as well as three refineries in Bulgaria, Romania, and the Netherlands with a combined refining capacity of 350,000 barrels a day.Officials said the assets are valued at about $20 billion and that the agency’s stake is structured so that profits will flow to the Treasury’s coffers.DFC officials working on the bid with the private consortium say a signing will likely come in the next two weeks.However, given the complications of a deal involving so many stakeholders, things remain fluid.

These sources see the impending purchase as proof that Washington can help execute sensitive deals that would be too risky without government involvement — and that ultimately benefit American taxpayers. “The DFC has never done a transaction like this.This is unprecedented in this institution,” said one agency official who believes it could play an increasingly important role in foreign policy.

The little-known agency isn’t providing any capital up front — instead, its more important contribution is the confidence it gives private investors to pursue a transaction they might otherwise consider too politically risky.One official said DFC was “not political risk insurance” but described its equity investment as providing reassurance to other investors.The involvement of other nations in the consortium, including the UAE and Qatar, has raised eyebrows.But officials said international participation was imp...