The Bulgarian government has discussed the impact and procedures for an early ban on the import of Russian crude and oil products before the country’s EU derogation on buying Moscow’s oil ends next year.
Bulgaria has a two-year exemption from the EU’s embargo on Russian oil to continue buying Russian crude until December 2024. The crude supplies the Russian company Lukoil’s 190,000 b/d Neftohim refinery near the Black Sea port of Burgas.
The government’s Security Council analyzed the potential effects of an early termination of the derogation for imports of Russian oil and petroleum products for processing at Lukoil’s refinery, it said in a statement late Aug. 21.
“Decisions on the presented analyses will be taken at the next meeting of the Security Council and will be proposed to the government,” it added.
Lukoil has been benefitting from access to cheap Russian Urals crude, which is transported to Bulgaria by tankers through the Black Sea. At the end of July, however, political parties supporting the government submitted a proposal for its early termination. The move came after Bulgaria’s parliament voted to end Lukoil’s concession to run the Rosenets oil terminal near Burgas.
In February, Bulgaria said it would start working with non-Russian oil as early as March to cut its dependence on Lukoil’s refinery and import infrastructure.
The government has said that the construction of the long-proposed Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline could secure alternative sources of crude oil supply for the refinery. The revival of the pipeline project would transport crude between the Aegean and Black Seas by bypassing the Turkish Straits.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
