SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. – About one month ago, many New Jersey may not have been familiar with Lukoil. But today, they couldn’t “escape the Russian oil company’s presence” if they tried, reports Reuters.

Lukoil’s $35 million campaign to “stamp its name prominently” across a network of U.S. retail locations is boosting the company’s brand and presence. In just a few years, Lukoil has “built up a fleet” of nearly 2,000 retail locations in 13 states along the East Coast that, until recently, had operated under Getty and Mobil brand names.

“All we hear is they [U.S. consumers] don’t care whether we are Russian or not,” Lukoil Americas CEO Vadim Gluzman told the news source.

Lukoil is “treading carefully” as it builds it brand in the United States, notes Reuters, adding that the company steers clear of publicizing its Russian roots in favor of calling itself a global oil company.

“We found out that not too many consumers knew that BP is not a U.S. company; they were as much unaware of BP being British as Lukoil being Russian,” Gluzman told the news source, adding, “They don't position themselves as a British company; we don't position ourselves as a Russian company. We just position ourselves as an international oil company.”

The strategy appears to be working, as statistics show that Lukoil-branded locations are performing “almost as well as its Mobil outlets and performing better than Getty outlets,” notes Reuters. Lukoil already has the second largest oil reserves behind ExxonMobil and recently named by Boston Consulting Group as one of the 100 most promising companies from rapidly developing economies that are giving traditional American “titans” a “run for their money.”

Gluzman told Reuters that he hopes to increase the company’s U.S. presence to as many as 3,000 locations and ultimately have them supplied with northern Russian crude oil supplies.