site.btaJustice Minister: Burgas Oil Refinery, Lukoil Subsidiaries in Bulgaria Fall under US Sanctions

The oil refinery near the coastal city of Burgas and several other subsidiaries representing the Lukoil group in Bulgaria meet the criteria of the newly announced US sanctions, Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev told reporters on Thursday.

He was commenting on Washington’s latest sanctions targeting Russia’s largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, in light of Lukoil’s operation of Bulgaria’s only oil refinery. 

Georgiev explained that the Ministry of Justice oversees the Property and Commercial Register, noting that the sanctions impose restrictions on transactions involving ownership and disposal of assets of the parent companies and their subsidiaries.

“What we have done is an analysis of the subsidiaries, their structure, and whether they fall within the scope of the sanctions,” the Minister said.

He added that, regarding the Commercial Register, Bulgarian authorities already have experience implementing EU sanctions packages. According to him, the authorities react to specific filings that may indicate attempts to change ownership in violation of sanctions, and several such attempts have been reported. 

The US sanctions targeting Lukoil and Rosneft sparked a wave of institutional and political reactions in Bulgaria on Thursday. The sanctions, announced by US President Donald Trump in his second term, are part of Washington’s response to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.