Lukoil's overseas network buckles as Western sanctions bite

By Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ahmad Ghaddar and Robert Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) -Russian oil major Lukoil is struggling to keep operations running at its sprawling foreign businesses as Western sanctions disrupt oil loadings in Iraq, pump stations in Finland and trading in Switzerland, sources said.

The United States and the United Kingdom last month imposed sanctions on Russia's second-largest oil company, complicating how it carries out its normal operations. 

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a licence giving companies until November 21. to wind down any transactions with Lukoil and number-one producer Rosneft.

The impact of the sanctions is being felt across various regions where the company operates.

Iraq's state firm Somo cancelled loadings of three crude oil cargoes from Lukoil's equity production at the West Qurna-2 field, two market sources said on Tuesday, citing concerns over U.S. and UK sanctions on the company. 

Lukoil has a 75% interest in the 480,000 barrel-per-day field, with Iraq's North Oil Company holding the remaining stake.

The cargoes were due to load on November 11, 18 and 26, the sources said. 

Lukoil and Somo did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Several trading sources told Reuters that Geneva-based Litasco, Lukoil's trading arm, has struggled to charter ships since Britain imposed  sanctions because UK-based shipbrokers refuse to work with them.

Two trading sources with knowledge of the trader's operations said that Litasco has also sacked employees as a direct result of the sanctions. 

Litasco did not respond to a request for comment.

Around 1,000 Teboil gasoline station workers and operators fear losing their jobs in Finland in the coming weeks as Finnish banks have begun to implement the sanctions on Russian oil and Teboil's owner Lukoil.

Teboil did not reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Finnish banks have already started to freeze payments to Teboil, said Finance Finland which represents Finnish banks, ahead of the November 21 deadline.

Last month, Lukoil said it had accepted an offer from global commodity trader Gunvor to buy its foreign assets, which it was seeking to sell after Washington's sanctions.

(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ahmad Ghaddar and Robert Harvey in London, Anne Kauranen in HelsinkiAdditional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in BaghdadEditing by Kirsten Donovan and Sharon Singleton)