Rumen Radev, former Minister of Energy and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria, warned that the issue with the refinery "Lukoil Neftochim Burgas" is far from harmless after the sanctions imposed by Washington against the Russian oil company.
"The issue with the refinery in Bulgaria is anything but harmless. Ultimately, it affects the operational functioning of the company, I am abstracting from the ownership structure," Radev told BNT.
The former Minister of Energy expressed skepticism about the possibility of successfully insisting on a derogation from the sanctions. "What I have little doubt that could work is the elementary insistence on some form of derogation. For the simple reason that nothing has changed in terms of capital structure, shareholders, etc.,", he explained.
Radev did not rule out, however, the possibility that US President Donald Trump could change his mind or grant deferrals.
Commenting on the danger of Bulgaria falling into the situation of Serbia, where sanctions against the oil company NIS are already causing problems, Radev stressed that the two countries are in different situations.
"If I had to specifically compare Bulgaria and Serbia, Serbia is in a certain unenviable situation. We are not in such a situation," he said.
The former minister recalled that the Minister of Energy has the right to initiate monitoring of the state reserves through the Security Council of the Council of Ministers. "These are steps that we have taken, we have prepared such a program and I am confident that colleagues in the current composition of the Council of Ministers will strictly observe it," Radev added.
On October 22, 2025, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against the Russian oil giants "Rosneft" and "Lukoil", announcing that the reason was the lack of serious commitment on the part of Russia to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.
The sanctions directly affect the Burgas refinery "Lukoil Neftokhim Burgas", which is part of the Russian company's system. There is a grace period until November 21, 2025 for the completion of existing transactions and payments.
Bulgaria is one of eight countries in the European Union that will consider a common smooth transition after the sanctions. The others are Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.