The European Commission Tuesday cleared Russian energy company OAO Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS) to buy a major stake in a Dutch refinery from France's Total SA (TOT).

Lukoil will buy a 45% stake for about $725 million in Total Raffinaderij Nederland, or TRN, the company has said.

Earlier this year, U.S. peer Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) said it agreed to buy the same stake from U.S.-based Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), which co-owned the refinery with Total. But the French company exercised its preemptive rights to purchase the stake and simultaneously agreed to sell it to Lukoil.

The 153,000 barrels-a-day refinery, located in Vlissingen, is mainly run on Russian crude oil.

-By Alessandro Torello, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 14 88; alessandro.torello@dowjones.com