site.btaParliamentary Committee on Energy Adopts Changes to Oil and Petroleum Products Stocks Act Related to Lukoil

The Parliamentary Committee on Energy Wednesday adopted amendments to the Oil and Petroleum Products Stocks Act. One of the bill's sponsors and chairman of the Committee Delyan Dobrev of GERB-UDF explained that the bill corrects, in his opinion, a mistake of the National Assembly from a few weeks ago, which gave a monopoly position to Lukoil on the fuel market in the country.

He proposes to abolish the requirement that 100% of the fuel be stored in Bulgaria and to return the old system of storing 50% of the fuel in the country and the other 50% abroad. He proposes to abolish the requirement that 100% of the fuel be stored in Bulgaria and to return the old system of storing 50% of the fuel in the country and the other 50% abroad. It is also proposed that as of the next storage period, starting July 1, 2024, the percentage be further reduced because the directive allows 30% of fuels to be stored in the country and 70% abroad. "We believe that this will encourage competition in the sector and will lead to better fuel prices at petrol stations," Dobrev pointed out.

The second proposal in the amendments to the Act is related to sanctions. Dobrev reiterated that currently, if a warehouse keeper refuses to give access to its premises to a trader who wants to use the service, the fine is "symbolic" - from BGN 500 to BGN 2000. "92% of warehouses in Bulgaria are owned by Lukoil," Dobrev said. Therefore, the proposal is to change these penalties and make them for a first violation from BGN 1 million to BGN 2 million, and for a second violation - from BGN 3 million to BGN 5 million, as well as the revocation of the license for repeated violations.

During the committee debate Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) MP Dragomir Stoynev said that his party will support the proposal.

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) MP Radoslav Ribarski said that the process should not be "rushed".

Stanislav Anastasov from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) pointed out that some of the MPs were misled by Parliament's initial decision. He therefore called for the proposed changes to be adopted.

There Is Such a People (TISP) MP Pavela Mitova said that mistakes are corrected all the time in this National Assembly.

The position of the Energy Ministry, which was expressed during the meeting by Energy Deputy Minister Krassimir Nenov, is that the minister in charge of this process should be the Economy and Industry Minister and not the Energy Minister. Dobrev replied that he had no confidence in either the previous or the current Economy Minister, while he had confidence in the Energy Minister. Therefore the proposal was not adopted.

During the vote in the Energy Committee, the Bill to amend and supplement the Oil and Petroleum Products Stocks Act, tabled by Delyan Dobrev (GERB-UDF) and Yordan Tsonev (MRF), was adopted with 10 votes in favour, no votes against and one abstention.