Bulgaria moves to secure fuel supplies after US sanctions on Russia’s Lukoil

Bulgaria is preparing measures to guarantee uninterrupted oil and fuel supplies following new US sanctions on Russia’s Lukoil, which operates the country’s largest oil refinery, Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov announced on October 24.

US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, over Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The move has sent shockwaves across Europe, where Lukoil maintains a vast network of filling stations, transportation, storage, and refining operations, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

Lukoil is Bulgaria’s largest crude importer and runs the 190,000-barrel-per-day Burgas oil refinery. The company also operates more than 200 petrol stations and a nationwide 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 following a ministerial meeting involving other state agencies.

He said Bulgaria’s response plan would include close monitoring of fuel stocks in the country.

“Bulgarian citizens should be calm, fuel is provided. Until the end of the year, the quantities are guaranteed,” Stankov told reporters at a news conference.

Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev said that the Burgas refinery and several other Lukoil subsidiaries in Bulgaria fall under the scope of the US sanctions. He added that the government is in contact with US institutions to ensure the refinery can continue operating.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s parliament on October 24 passed an amendment requiring cabinet and intelligence service approval before any sale of Lukoil’s Bulgarian assets.

Lukoil was already under pressure due to existing sanctions against Russia linked to the conflict in Ukraine.

Georgiev added that security services and the interior ministry have implemented “additional measures to ensure capacity, manpower and any other security measures at the refinery.”

By Sabina Mammadli