Lukoil May Be Cheaper, but Isn’t Ukraine’s Freedom Worth More?
The sign high over the half-dozen fuel pumps reads LUKOIL in big red letters. But if any of the customers were aware that is the name of Russia’s second largest oil company, it was not keeping them away from this Brooklyn service station.
What did sway the customers were the black numbers under the LUKOIL sign announcing that regular gas here was going for $3.95 a gallon at the start of Monday. The surrounding stations were charging as much as $4.29.
The price is determined by Lukoil, which adopted this marketing strategy long before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. The drawing power of a few cents a gallon will likely remain enough to keep the customers coming unless the continuing savagery in Ukraine prompts New York to revoke the permits of the city’s three Lukoil franchises. The Newark, New Jersey, city council has voted to shut down the three dozen Lukoil stations there.
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