Bulgaria moves to prevent shutdown of its only oil refinery ahead of US sanctions

SOFIA Bulgaria AP Bulgaria is racing to prevent the shutdown of its only oil refinery before U S sanctions on the Russian owner take effect later this month Parliament in Sofia approved legal changes that grant additional state authority to a government-appointed manager of the Lukoil-owned Burgas refinery on the Black Sea coast The move came after a top international commodities trader dropped plans to purchase Lukoil s international assets as the company rejected U S executive charges of being the Kremlin s puppet Lukoil declared it was selling its international assets in response to U S sanctions aimed at pushing Russia to agree to a ceasefire in its war against Ukraine The company has stakes in oil and gas projects in countries including the Burgas refinery as well as gas stations in several countries Under the new amendments the manager is granted vital operational control of the refinery including the right to sell its shares Opposition lawmakers criticized the changes saying they could prompt legal action against Bulgaria This person will be granted such extraordinary powers that in the end Lukoil will sue Bulgaria and the money will end up in Russia mentioned Ivaylo Mirchev leader of the Democratic Bulgaria alliance The ruling coalition introduced the changes arguing that the U S sanctions scheduled to take effect on Nov will effectively lead to the shutdown of the refinery s operations due to the refusal of all counterparties to make payments to Lukoil-owned companies In the Russian oil giant Lukoil acquired the Neftochim plant on the Black Sea It is the largest oil refinery in the Balkans Fresh estimates by experts set the value of the refinery at billion euros billion The Lukoil-Neftochim refinery is Bulgaria s largest company playing a substantial role in the country s market In it had a turnover of about billion euros billion Its nationwide infrastructure of oil depots and gas stations as well as its supply of ships and aircraft gives it near-monopoly status Last week Bulgaria imposed temporary restrictions on the export of petroleum products including those destined for other European Union members to ensure sufficient domestic supplies ahead of new U S sanctions on Russian capacity The ban covers exports of petroleum products including diesel and aviation fuel Source