The Public Property Agency and Chisinau International Airport (AIC) signed the handover takeover documents on Thursday, January 29, for the oil terminal complex located on the airport premises and previously owned by Lukoil Moldova. The Ministry of Energy announced that the transfer followed a decision adopted on December 15, 2025, by the Commission for the Examination of Investments of Importance for State Security (CEIISS), which ordered the return of the assets to state ownership.
At the same meeting, CEIISS banned Lukoil, together with its current beneficiaries and founders, from operating in sectors considered strategic for state security and ordered the restoration of the situation that existed before the privatization of the oil complex in 2005.
Authorities required the company to hand over the assets by January 9. After the company failed to comply, officials fined it 5 million lei on January 16. The company paid the fine earlier this week, and authorities granted a new deadline of January 28.
After the US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed international sanctions on November 12, the airport and Lukoil signed a free loan for use agreement, which allowed the temporary management of the assets until the transfer was completed. Authorities had launched the procedure to review the investments made by LUKOIL MOLDOVA SRL in May 2024, before the sanctions took effect.
As for the company fuel station network in the Republic of Moldova, the US investment fund Carlyle Group is expected to take it over. Under national legislation, the new investor must request approval for the investment, and CEIISS will issue a decision on the matter.