Russia’s Lukoil plans to sell its Bulgarian refinery to a Qatari-UK consortium comprising Oryx Global, controlled by Qatari businessman Ghanim Bin Saad Al Saad, and London-based commodity trading house DL Hudson, by the end of the year, the Financial Times reported.

The company will divest its majority stake in the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery, Lukoil said in a letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s office, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal, which must be endorsed by Putin, were not disclosed, according to SeeNews.

At least half a dozen groups are said to have expressed interest in acquiring Lukoil’s refinery located near the Bulgarian coastal city of Burgas, and Lukoil has chosen the consortium as its preferred buyer, as per the FT report. Final bidders also included Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company Socar, Kazakhstan’s state energy group KazMunayGas and Turkish oil group Opet.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU imposed a ban on Russian oil imports, making it difficult for Lukoil to continue its operations in Bulgaria.

Last December, Lukoil said it had started weighing up various options for its Bulgarian businesses, including a potential disposal. Alongside the refinery, Lukoil’s Bulgarian portfolio includes 220 fuel stations and nine oil depots, as well as ship and aviation bunkering businesses, it said at the time.

Later that month, the Bulgarian parliament adopted amendments to legislation, leading to the definitive stop of crude oil imports from Russia as of March 2024, ahead of the EU exemption’s expiry at the end of 2024, and ceasing exports of Russian crude-based fuel products from January 1, 2024.