site.btaNearly BGN 113 Mln Collected in Electricity System Security Fund as Compensation for Russian Oil Processing

The Electricity System Security Fund (ESSF) collected BGN 112,782,187 as compensations for the processing of Russian oil from December 2023 to March 2024, ESSF Chair Dian Chervenkondev told the ad hoc committee on the exception for the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas oil refinery from the EU ban on Russian oil.

Imports of Russian oil have been suspended, and in December, these imports were already waning. The money collected this year came from compensation for processed Russian oil in tax warehouses, Chervenkondev said.

In late December, Bulgaria's Parliament banned the processing of oil originating from Russia by the country's only oil refinery, Russian-controlled Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, as of March 1, 2024. In this way, Bulgaria cut short a derogation from the EU embargo on oil imports from Russia that the European Commission granted Bulgaria in 2022 due to the country's specific geographic exposure.

At its next meeting on Thursday, the ad hoc committee will inquire with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, and the State’s representative at the Lukoil Neftohim Burgas refinery about the impact of the use or the revocation of the derogation from the EU ban.

Set up by the National Assembly on April 4, the ad hoc committee is tasked with examining the economic effect of the requested and granted derogation enjoyed by Lukoil and a failure by the Minister of Economy and Industry to carry out his duties in connection with the entry into force of the Consumers' Transport Expenditures Compensation Act.