Ghana is taking steps to buy Lukoil PJSC’s stake in an offshore oil block to gain greater control over future output in the country, according to people familiar with the matter.

The West African nation is considering using its pre-emptive rights to acquire the sanctions-hit Russian company’s 38% stake in the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block, the people said asking not to be identified because the matter is not public. Ghana claims it has the first right to the stake, after private equity firm Carlyle Group agreed in January to buy most of Lukoil’s international portfolio, which likely includes the Ghanaian block, the people said.

Carlyle declined to comment on whether it was pursuing the stake as part of its deal to buy multiple assets from Lukoil. The Russian company didn’t respond to a request for comment and Ghana’s energy ministry declined to comment.

The threat of European sanctions on Lukoil since the invasion of Ukraine have loomed over the block that holds the Pecan field project — a discovery that’s yet to be developed — for years, leading to the exit of Oslo-based Aker Energy. The US last year imposed its own sanctions on Lukoil and peer Rosneft PJSC as the Trump administration ramped up pressure on the Kremlin to end the war.

Ghana has longstanding aspirations, along with other African producers, of taking over the role of international oil companies that produce its crude in order to get a bigger share of the profits.

The country has commissioned a valuation of the stake and informed Lukoil that it intends to invoke its pre-emptive right, one of the people said. Other investors would be brought in to help cover the costs of developing the fields.

Africa Finance Corp. in 2023 became the operator of the block with a 50% share through Pecan Energies Ltd. when Aker exited. Shell Plc is in ongoing talks over buying a stake in the local unit, according to the people. A Shell spokesperson declined to comment.