site.btaNo Grounds for Concern Regarding Fuel Supplies on Bulgarian Market, Lukoil Bulgaria Says

There are no grounds for concern regarding the availability of fuels on the Bulgarian market or their prices, Lukoil Bulgaria said on Thursday in connection with the potential arbitration case against Bulgaria by the Swiss company Litasco SA.

The arbitration proceedings, of which the government has been notified, do not in any way affect the operations of the Lukoil group of companies in Bulgaria, the company said in a statement published on its website.

Lukoil’s subsidiaries in Bulgaria continue to operate under normal conditions under the leadership of the appointed special commercial administrator, the statement added.

The Swiss company Litasco SA, a member of the Lukoil group and shareholder in Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD and Lukoil-Bulgaria EOOD, announced on Wednesday that it had sent a notice of dispute to the Bulgarian authorities and declared its intention to use all available legal instruments, including initiating arbitration proceedings before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

According to Litasco, the measures taken by Bulgaria against the subsidiaries operating on its territory constitute a breach of the country’s obligations under the investment agreement and the Energy Charter Treaty, specifically, unlawful expropriation of Litasco’s investments without compensation, the company said.

The Bulgarian government adopted a decision in November appointing Rumen Spetsov as special commercial administrator to oversee Russian oil company Lukoil's four operations in Bulgaria. The Lukoil assets in Bulgaria include Lukoil-Bulgaria EOOD (a chain of over 200 filling stations), Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD (the largest oil refinery in the Balkans), Lukoil Aviation Bulgaria EOOD (an aircraft refuelling operation), and Sustainable Energy Supply EOOD (marketing and trading in natural gas and other hydrocarbons).

Lukoil said at the time that it reserved the right to seek legal protection and stated that the activities of the appointed special commercial administrator should not obstruct the sale of its assets in Bulgaria.

On October 22, 2025, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) expanded its sanctions on Russia by designating that country's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.

The United States extended the deadline for an agreement to sell the foreign assets of the Russian oil company Lukoil to April 1, 2026, according to a document from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published on Thursday.