Russia\\\'s Lukoil sells filling stations in Ukraine

MOSCOW, July 31 (AFP): Russia's Lukoil said Thursday it had reached preliminary agreement to sell its network of filling stations in Ukraine, days after radical nationalists there tried to extort fuel from the company.
The price for the sale of the roughly 240 filling stations and six petroleum tank farms to Austria's AMIC Energy Management GmbH was not disclosed.
"The sale of the filling station network and petroleum tank farms in Ukraine to AMIC will help Lukoil optimise its asset structure and distribution network management system in Eastern Europe," Lukoil Vice President Vadim Vorobyov was quoted as saying in a company statement.
Lukoil, the largest privately-held Russian oil company, did not say whether the sale was linked to the crisis in Ukraine and recent difficulties in its operations.
Earlier this week members of the Ukrainian nationalist group Right Sector blocked several Lukoil stations in western Ukraine in a bid to extort fuel supplies for the Ukrainian military, according to the company and OSCE international monitors operating in Ukraine.