Bulgaria prepares measures for its Lukoil-owned refinery after U.S. sanctions
Bulgaria is preparing measures to secure uninterrupted supplies of oil and oil derivatives after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia's Lukoil, which runs the country's biggest oil refinery, Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said.
U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, over Moscow's war in Ukraine, sending shockwaves across Europe, where Lukoil has a network of filling stations, and transports, stores and refines crude.
Lukoil is Bulgaria's biggest crude importer. It runs the 190,000 barrel-per-day Burgas oil refinery, operates more than 200 petrol stations and has a fuel transport and depot network.
"This is an extremely important situation in which we, with the interested parties, including our European partners ... will have the opportunity ... to build a common European action plan for the situation that has arisen," Stankov said after a ministerial meeting including other state agencies.
He said that Bulgaria's plan will involve monitoring fuel stocks in the country.
"Bulgarian citizens should be calm, fuel is provided. Until the end of the year, the quantities are guaranteed," Stankov said at a news conference.
Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev said the Burgas oil refinery and several other subsidiaries representing the Lukoil group meet the criteria of the U.S. sanctions and that the government was in contact with U.S. institutions to ensure the refinery can continue operating.
The Bulgarian parliament on Friday adopted an amendment requiring the cabinet and the country's intelligence service to provide their approval prior to any sale of Lukoil's assets in Bulgaria.
Lukoil was already under pressure to sell the refinery due to existing sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict.
Georgiev said the security services and the interior ministry have taken additional measures to ensure capacity, manpower and any other security measures at the refinery.
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