Russia's Lukoil rejects US private equity firm's offer to buy its Sicily refinery

Russian oil producer Lukoil (LKOH.MM) has declined an offer to sell its refinery in Sicily, Italy, to US private equity firm Crossbridge Energy Partners, Report informs, citing Reuters.

The Russian company questioned the firm's ability to pay for the deal, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people close to the talks.

Commodities trading giant Vitol was willing to offer credit to Crossbridge to fund the deal at a rate better than the US fund could get from a traditional lender as it stood to benefit from supplying crude to the Italian refinery, the newspaper said.