Bulgaria suspends diesel and jet fuel supplies to EU

The Bulgarian parliament has decided to suspend fuel exports, including diesel and aviation fuel, to European Union countries in response to new US sanctions against Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.

The parliamentary decision concerns the suspension of intra-EU exports of petroleum products. However, the ban does not apply to the refuelling of domestic and foreign ships and aircraft. Similarly, fuel supplies for the armed forces of EU and NATO member states are exempt from the restriction.

Lawmakers justified the measure as necessary to ensure Bulgaria’s energy security and maintain stability in the domestic fuel market. The move was prompted by the latest US sanctions against the Russian oil company Lukoil.

The report noted that Lukoil owns Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, the largest oil refinery in the Balkans, although the facility is officially registered under a Swiss subsidiary of Lukoil. The sanctioned Russian company also owns Lukoil Bulgaria, the country’s leading motor fuel distributor, which controls between 40% and 60% of the wholesale fuel market.

Since Lukoil holds an 89% stake in both the refinery and the distribution company, these assets fall under US sanctions. The restrictions are expected to significantly complicate—or even make impossible—the continued operation of the Russian-owned facilities in Bulgaria. As a result, Bulgarian lawmakers, citing fears of possible “market abuse,” approved a ban on fuel exports.

The restrictions are described as temporary and do not apply to gasoline, which remains sufficiently available in the country. However, Bulgaria’s fuel consumption is dominated by diesel, which accounts for about 80% of total fuel sales, while gasoline represents only 20%.

Following several warnings, the United States imposed new sanctions on Russia on October 22, citing Moscow’s “lack of serious interest in the peace process” to end the war in Ukraine.

The sanctions targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, along with their subsidiaries within Russia. Violations of the sanctions could lead to civil and criminal penalties for both US citizens and foreign nationals.

Amid these new Western sanctions and Ukraine’s successful attacks on Russian oil refineries, Russia’s exports of refined petroleum products sharply declined in October, reaching their lowest daily levels since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.