site.btaOrban: Hungary’s MOL Company Bidding for Lukoil Neftohim

MOL (the Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc) is bidding for Lukoil Neftohim, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said during his annual news conference on Saturday.

"Lukoil, a private Russian firm, wants to sell one of its refineries. It invited an open tender and one of the seven bidding companies is MOL, the only company from the European Union. A decision will be made by the Bulgarians," Orban said, quoted on his official website, https://miniszterelnok.hu

The Hungarian head of government confirmed that he had received guarantees that Bulgaria would not be an obstacle to Hungary's gas supplies. He visited Sofia on December 20 and conferred with President Rumen Radev and GERB leader Boyko Borissov.

Analysts warn that Russian financing may be attracted as MOL's financial capabilities are limited, www.oilprice.com said.

A five-year contract under which Russia transits gas via Ukraine to Slovakia, Czechia and Austria will expire on January 1, 2025. Kyiv has repeatedly confirmed that it will not extend the contract because of the Russian aggression.

Bulgaria regards the refinery in Burgas (on the Black Sea) as a strategic installation. The State holds a Class A (or "golden share") in the oil refinery. This blocking minority interest entitles the Bulgarian Government to convene a shareholders' general meeting on all key issues concerning the company. One member of the company's Supervisory Board is named by the Minister of Economy. This representative was replaced in mid-November, as Tsvetan Tsirkov took over from Boyko Nitsov. A sale of or change in the majority holding in the Russian-controlled company has to be cleared with the Commission on Protection of Competition and the State Agency for National Security. Under Bulgarian legislation, the State can take control of the refinery if national security is jeopardized.

This year, Hungary has imported 7.5 billion cu m of Russian gas over the TurkStream pipeline and additional quantities via Romania.