In a show of support for Ukraine, some U.S. politicians and consumers are calling for a boycott of Lukoil gas stations. But it’s the local business owners, not the Russian parent company, that say they risk losing sales.
In the week since Russia invaded Ukraine, appeals have cropped up across social media for drivers to fill up at other chains in a rebuke of Lukoil PJSC, Russia’s second-largest oil producer. Search interest for the term “boycott Lukoil” grew by more than 5,000% in February, according to Google Trends data. The city council of Newark took the stance even further on Wednesday when it unanimously passed a resolution urging the suspension of business licenses for all of the company’s gas stations in New Jersey’s largest city, according to a copy of the resolution obtained by Bloomberg.
