Losing Lukoil refinery would put Bulgaria in 'extremely difficult situation,' vice president warns

GENEVA

Bulgaria would face an "extremely difficult situation" if the Lukoil-owned refinery in Burgas stopped operating, Vice President Iliana Iotova reportedly said on Saturday, stressing that any decision on its future requires national, not merely parliamentary, consensus.

Her comments follow Friday's adoption of urgent legal amendments granting sweeping powers to a special commercial administrator who will oversee Lukoil's operations in Bulgaria.

The move strips the company's shareholders of voting and disposal rights, and allows the state-appointed administrator to approve or even sell shares in the country's largest refinery, according to the Bulgarian News Agency.

This is the second emergency law in seven weeks in response to the refinery crisis, which escalated after the US imposed sanctions on Russia's Lukoil amid the war in Ukraine. In October, Bulgaria also suspended exports of refined oil products such as diesel.

Iotova criticized the speed of the parliamentary process, noting the amendments were adopted "in a record 30 seconds." She questioned, according to the news agency, the urgency, saying the legislation could have been debated more broadly across the National Assembly.

She also rejected claims that Bulgaria is nationalizing the refinery, saying lawmakers had adopted elements of Germany's model of temporary state management of strategic assets.

"In Germany, this system has been in place for three years and will continue until 2026. This is neither a sale nor nationalization," she said.