On Friday, the Bulgarian parliament urgently adopted a law in the first and second reading on depriving the Russian company Lukoil of the license to use the Rosenec oil terminal north of Burgas on the Black Sea. The new law is due to come into force in two weeks.
The concession for the terminal was granted to Lukoil for 34 years in 2011 by the government of then Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who now, as a member of the ruling coalition, supported its abolition. Through the Rosenec terminal, the Lukoil Neftochim petrochemical plant, the largest in the Balkans and also owned by a Russian company, receives oil from both Russia and the Middle East.
The European Commission has granted Bulgaria permission to import Russian oil until the end of 2024, despite the sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The combine was sold to the Russians by the centre-right government of Ivan Kostov in 2000.
Rosenec terminal in BulgariaShutterstock
Lukoil has 2 weeks left
Within the next 14 days, Lukoil will have the right to use the terminal, for which it will have to pay taxes to the Bulgarian state. The reason for withdrawing consent to the concession is the EU sanctions regime. Friday’s parliamentary decision was supported by the ruling parties We Continue Changes – Democratic Bulgaria and GERB, as well as the Turkish minority party DPS. The left and the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party spoke out against it, expressing fears that Russia might submit the case to international arbitration. Similar fears were also expressed by well-known Bulgarian economists.
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