MOSCOW/ROME, November 16Deputies of the People's Assembly (Parliament) of Bulgaria did not support the bill, according to which the Lukoil company would have to stop refining Russian oil at the Lukoil Neftochim refinery in Burgas within three days after it came into force, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported. .
Earlier it became known that Prime Minister of Bulgaria Nikolai Denkov convened an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council in connection with a bill submitted to parliament for discussion on amending the law on monitoring the use of restrictive measures against Russia.
According to local media, following a meeting that lasted more than three hours, Denkov told reporters that any reduction in the validity period of the exemption for the use of oil from The Russian Federation “increases the risks of disruption to Lukoil’s operational activities and an increase in the market price of fuel.” He also presented a plan to phase out Russian oil at the Burgas refinery, according to which this is expected to happen on March 1, 2024.
“The People’s Assembly rejected the proposal of GERB (the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party), supported by the SDS (Union of Democratic Forces party), to cancel within three days the exceptions for the import of Russian oil to Bulgaria,” the radio report said.
94 deputies voted for this document, 55 were against. 61 people’s representatives abstained from voting, including representatives of the ruling coalition from the “Continue Changes” — “Democratic Bulgaria” bloc.
As the Bulgarian news agency BTA notes, after the vote, deputies of the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria and the Union of Democratic Forces parties left the meeting room.
In 2022, EU leaders reached an agreement to impose a partial oil embargo on Russia. At the same time, Bulgaria was then, as an exception, allowed to process Russian oil delivered by sea until the end of 2024.
According to a secret report prepared for the Bulgarian parliament and obtained by Politico, the Lukoil Neftochim refinery in Burgas has earned $983 million since the introduction of the benefit on February 5. At the end of October, Lukoil announced that it was paying taxes on time and fully fulfilling its obligations to the Bulgarian budget.