Opposition Lawmakers Comment on the Sale of the Lukoil Neftochim Refinery in Burgas

According to the amendments to the Investment Promotion Act adopted in Parliament last week at second reading, the sale of Russian company Lukoil’s assets in Bulgaria will require a government decision and a review and report from the State Agency for National Security (SANS).

'Lukoil' is selling its international assets to Gunvor, with the Burgas refinery included in the deal.

In Parliament, only opposition MPs commented on the sale.

Asen Vasilev, Chair of We Continue the Change (WCC): "Regarding Gunvor – one of its founders is Gennady Timchenko, who, after being sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, left the company. So it must be determined whether this company will even be allowed to buy Lukoil. Meanwhile, the government must have a plan B. If this deal is blocked, we need to ensure continuity of fuel supplies. This means the Bulgarian government must have a clear plan for purchasing crude oil and conducting fuel sales transactions in the country. Will a special manager be appointed at Lukoil? And what team will accompany them? When Academician Denkov was PM, such a plan was prepared, but as far as I know, during the caretaker governments, the plan was completely frozen."

Kostadin Kostadinov, Chair of Vazrazhdane: "Discussions with the US administration should have started immediately, to do what the Germans did with Rosneft. That didn’t happen. The second thing that should have been done in parallel was to start negotiations, even preliminary ones, with Lukoil for the purchase—or, in our case, essentially the repurchase of Neftochim, which, after all, was Bulgarian state property until 26 years ago."