Russian business daily Kommersant had reported that the refinery would enable LUKOIL to supply fuel to its 1,500 gas stations along the U.S. East Coast.
"We are not considering the purchase, let alone [image-nocss] construction, of refining capacities," LUKOIL CEO Vagit Alekperov said.
Kommersant cited documentation prepared by the Kremlin for the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Russia, which began on Monday, saying that LUKOIL was planning to build the refinery expected to process Russian crude oil blends.
According to the newspaper, LUKOIL first put forward the U.S. refinery proposal back in 2001, a year after it purchased the Getty Petroleum network of about 1,300 retail stations in the United States.
In 2004, LUKOIL purchased 795 retail stations from ConocoPhillips, which increased the Russian oil producer's East Coast chain to more than 1,500 locations. Based on its average sales from its stations, LUKOIL annually sells about 4 million metric tons (29 million barrels) of petroleum products on the U.S. market, the paper said.
According to Kommersant, LUKOIL has repeatedly said that it has no plans to quit the U.S. market.
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