I want to reassure Bulgarian citizens that as of today we have 6 months of gasoline, 4 months of diesel and 2 months of aviation fuel, which will ensure the needs of the people in the country. This was stated by Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov in the program "Panorama" on BNT.
"My main task is to guarantee Bulgaria's energy security, especially after the imposition of sanctions that directly affect the subsidiaries of "Lukoil", namely "Lukoil - Bulgaria", "Lukoil Neftochim" as large companies. Let us ensure that fuel supplies to end consumers, households, businesses will be maintained, prices will be fair and as they are on the market. In this regard, an expert team was immediately formed, which I lead on a daily basis and receive information about the stocks in the country. I want to reassure Bulgarian citizens that as of today we have 6 months of gasoline, 4 months of diesel and 2 months of aviation fuel, which will ensure the needs of the people in the country."
The Energy Minister emphasized that the important task facing the special manager of "Lukoil" Rumen Spetsov is to ensure that there will be no payments between the subsidiaries located on the territory of the country and the sanctioned parent company.
"This is exactly the main thing he will do - to supervise the payments. What I see, based on my joint visit to the refinery with him, is that he asked all the management staff about the approach and the way they work there. I am sure that the main tasks, which are - preserving jobs, the functioning of the refinery, security of supplies - will be guided by this."
Zhecho Stankov explained what forced Spetsov to dismiss the Russian chairman of the board of directors of "Lukoil Neftochim Burgas".
"It is not a question of firing the boss, Mr. Manyakhin has been retained as part of the board. This is a legal matter that I do not want to go into so deeply, but when a company EOOD, upon registration of the new manager, automatically the old one loses his rights. This is not the case with joint-stock companies. At the moment when Mr. Spetsov was registered in the refinery "Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD", the old director retains his rights. And in order to guarantee precisely that the state will guarantee to our partners that there will be no financial payments - the other director had to take a step back."
"Mr. Spetsov will make his decisions in an informed manner", Stankov pointed out.
When asked if the sanctions were lifted if Trump's peace plan were to work, how would Russia react and whether Bulgaria would risk paying penalties, the Energy Minister replied:
"In my opinion, they would react the way they would react to what our German colleagues did back in 2022, if I'm not mistaken. There should be no reactions, because I repeat again - the main task is to preserve the work, functioning, income of people and, of course, to preserve the property in this refinery. Because in the situation of sanctions, tonight would be the last hours in which the refinery, the gas stations, the company that supplies aviation fuel and fuel for ships would stop having access to the banking system - this would have happened if we had not agreed on such an important derogation or general license, which allows us to be calm for the next 6 months that everything will function. Naturally, if necessary, it will be extended with the same guarantee from the Bulgarian state that this person whom it has appointed to take care of the payments accordingly guarantees that there will be no payments between the mother and the subsidiaries."
Asked if there are official or unofficial channels of communication with the Russian side to understand what real risk Bulgaria is taking, Stankov said:
"During the meeting at "Neftochim Burgas" Mr. Manyakhin stood on an equal footing with all of us around the table and what I saw from his side was full cooperation from the point of view of functioning. There would ever be any claims if the interest was violated or the interest of the owner was harmed, and I do not see this happening in these hypotheses that we have."
The Minister of Energy is categorical that if necessary, an extension of the derogation will be requested in April.
"This license can be extended by another 3, 6 months or a year. In this case, my colleague Georgi Georgiev and I submitted a request for 6 months, if necessary - we will request an additional extension."