Powers of Future Special Administrator in Lukoil Bulgaria Expanded at First Reading in Plenary

Valentin Evstatiev, Nelli Zheleva

The National Assembly holds a sitting, Sofia, November 7, 2025 (BTA Photo/Blagoy Kirilov)

Sofia,

07.11.2025 14:57

(BTA)

The National Assembly on Friday expanded the powers of the figure of the special commercial administrator of a critical infrastructure facility by adopting, at first reading, amendments to the Act on Administrative Regulation of Economic Activities Associated with Oil and Petroleum Products. The amendments were prompted by plans to appoint a special commercial administrator at the Bulgarian subsidiary of Russian oil company Lukoil. The first-reading vote in the full House was 130 in favour, 71 against and two abstentions.

The bill was moved on Friday morning by MPs of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning, GERB-UDF, There Is Such a People, and BSP-United Left. The proposed legislation passed in the National Assembly Energy Committee later in the morning before it was moved on to the full House.

In their reasoning, the sponsors of the bill said that sanctions imposed on the assets of Lukoil would effectively lead to the suspension of operations at the Lukoil Neftochim refinery in the Bulgarian seaside city of Burgas, as all contractors had refused to make payments to companies owned by Lukoil OAO in Bulgaria. The situation, they argued, objectively required an expansion of the powers of the special commercial administrator, since the current circumstances differed significantly from those envisaged when the position was first introduced under the existing law.

If adopted conclusively, the draft amendments would allow the special commercial administrator to continue all operations of the refinery and other Lukoil facilities in Bulgaria beyond November 21, 2025, the proposal said. The bill’s sponsors further said that the so-called German model, which has already been granted an exemption from the sanctions regime, had been effectively incorporated into the current legislative proposal.

/RY/