Lukoil Neftochim Burgas

A large oil processing facility in the Balkan Peninsula. The main supplier of fuel to the domestic market of the Republic of Bulgaria. Subsidiary of PJSC LUKOIL.

2023: €34.6 million fine from Bulgarian authorities for 'price pressure'

Bulgaria in February 2023 fined LUKOIL 34.6 million euros for price pressure. The Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission fined LUKOIL-Bulgaria 35 million euros for violating the law on the protection of competition - abuse of a dominant position by exerting price pressure in the wholesale trade in motor fuels in the country.

2022: AFU fuel supplies from a plant in Bulgaria during the conflict in Ukraine

In their investigation into Bulgarian supplies to Ukraine in January 2023, journalists from the German newspaper Die Welt mentioned diesel tanks that literally "saved" Ukraine in the spring of 2022. With the help of secret supplies through foreign intermediary firms, Bulgarians supplied Ukraine with fuel, at times covering up to 40% of its needs.

In the first eight months of 2022, energy supplies from Bulgaria to Ukraine in monetary terms increased from 1.5 million leva to more than 700 million leva. This is more than 500 times.

Unlike the supply of weapons, no one introduced a ban on the export of energy resources in the Sofia parliament. However, the irony is that diesel fuel supplied by Bulgaria for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was processed from Russian crude oil at the refinery of the Russian company.

The largest refinery in the Balkans and the only in Bulgaria, Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD, belongs to the company of the same name, which in turn is part of the European division of Lukoil.

In May, rumors spread that he could stop his work amid an EU embargo on Russian oil supplies. The fact is that the plant's technological installations are designed to work with Russian Urals oil, and replacing it without losses for the production process is almost unrealistic. Yes, it is technically possible to process oil from the Middle East and North Africa (and some of the resources did come from Iraq), but this significantly reduces the capacity of the enterprise.

Contrary to fears, soon the prime minister of the technical government Donev confirmed that the refinery would be able to continue working in full. The European Commission said: Bulgaria was granted the right to use Russian oil until 2024 as an exception - for the internal needs of the country.

In 2022, an oil refinery on the Black Sea coast produced almost twice as much fuel as a year earlier. But the Bulgarian market accounted for only about 50% of the products.

The rest was directed to Ukraine, which Ukrainian officials admitted to the German publication. According to the ex-Minister of Finance, tanker trucks were regularly sent to Ukraine through Romania, fuel also came along the railway route. And local sources confirm that the locomotives are still going towards Ukraine.

Oil refining at foreign enterprises occupied 32% of Lukoil's portfolio. The largest share was in the Italian refinery, which the company is now forced to sell to Israel's G.O.I. Energy. After leaving Italy, Lukoil lost 60.76% of foreign oil refining, and only Romanian Petrotel Lukoil and Bulgarian Lukoil Neftochim Bourgas remain among its foreign assets.

The Bulgarian authorities are making desperate attempts to nationalize the enterprise: in January 2023, deputies of the People's Assembly adopted amendments to the law on administrative regulation of economic activities related to oil and oil products. However, as of January 2023, Lukoil is still the beneficiary.

In response to the words of the former Minister of Finance of Bulgaria that Lukoil supplied diesel fuel to the needs of Ukraine at the request of the Bulgarian government, Lukoil replied that such requests had never been received. And the products of the refinery in Burgas are sold on the domestic market exclusively to Bulgarian buyers. The company's sales volumes in 2022 in the country were significantly lower than its consumption level.