site.btaTemporary Restriction on Diesel and Jet Fuel Exports Proposed by GERB, BSP, TISP, and MRF-New Beginning

“Together with BSP – United Left, There Is Such a People (TISP) and MRF – New Beginning, we have submitted a proposal for a temporary measure to restrict the export of diesel and jet fuel from Bulgaria," said GERB MP Delyan Dobrev speaking to reporters in Parliament here on Friday.

“This is a preventive measure. We have fuel supplies for many months ahead, but we want to prevent speculation with fuel prices as well as misuse of the quantities Bulgaria has in storage,” Dobrev explained. “The state reserve, where additional fuel is stored, is not included in the fuel available for the coming months,” he added.

“In neighboring countries, prices are rising. In our view, this is due to speculation linked to the geopolitical situation,” Dobrev said. According to him, the proposed temporary measure aims to prevent market manipulation and ensure the normal functioning of the country’s economy.

“In the draft decision, we provide flexibility to the Director of the Customs Agency, allowing them, if necessary for humanitarian or technological reasons related to maintaining the continuous operation of Neochim (a major fertilizers, inorganic and organic chemical products plant in Southeast Bulgaria), to authorize the export of limited quantities of the restricted products at their discretion,” Dobrev added. 

Also on Friday, the Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee adopted at an extraordinary sitting a draft resolution introducing a temporary measure to restrict the export and intra-Community supply of petroleum products to other European Union Member States. With this resolution, the Government is temporarily limiting the export of petroleum products - mainly diesel and aviation fuel - in order to prevent speculation with fuel prices in Bulgaria, in the context of the U.S. sanctions on the Russian company Lukoil and the potential effects on its assets in Bulgaria.