The reason for the embargo was Russia's war against Ukraine. Already two years ago, the EU imposed sanctions on Russian oil to reduce the Kremlin's income for waging war.
Russian oil is wholly banned in Bulgaria
A complete ban on importing Russian oil in Bulgaria occurs on Mar. 1, 2024.
The BGNES reported on Mar.1.
This happened after the export of products made from Russian raw materials was banned from Jan. 1.
When the European Union imposed an embargo on Russian oil, Bulgaria asked for a concession and got it.
From mid-2023, disputes flared in the parliament, with some parties loudly advocating a complete ban on Russian oil. This is how the decision of the National Assembly was adopted, which introduced a phased reduction in the import of Russian oil from the beginning of this year.
"Lukoil-Neftekhim" refinery has not imported Russian oil since the beginning of this year, and this has in no way had a detrimental effect on the Bulgarian economy, said Deputy Delyan Dobrev.
Sanctions against the Russian oil industry
Last year, the G7 countries, the EU and Australia imposed a price ceiling on Russian oil delivered by sea at $60 per barrel. From Feb. 5, 2023, similar restrictions began to apply to the supply of petroleum products from Russia.
Western sanctions meant that half of Russia's exports of oil and petroleum products went to China in 2023, while India's share rose to 40% in two years. Europe's share in oil exports from Russia fell tenfold — to about 4-5%.
The US Treasury Department recently imposed sanctions against the leading Russian tanker group, Sovcomflot. The decision was made to reduce Russia's income from the sale of oil, which it can use to support the invasion of Ukraine.
How Bulgaria got rid of Russia's oil dependence
Bulgaria was one of the few EU countries that refused to support the ban on purchasing and selling Russian oil products.
The country could buy Russian oil within the framework of relevant agreements until this year.
However, since the beginning of this year, the Bulgarian authorities have significantly limited the export of all Russian oil products, making the supply of Russian oil practically impossible.
It was decided to stop all imports of Russian crude oil from March.
Oil from the Russian Federation was bought for the refinery in Burgas, which had a capacity of 190,000 barrels per day. The refinery was under the management of the Russian company Lukoil.
Bulgaria became the fourth largest buyer of marine oil from Russia in 2023, buying more than 100,000 barrels per day.
However, oil from Russia will not reach the port of Burgas this month. Since Lukoil can no longer supply the Burgas oil refinery with its oil of the Urals brand, it has to use oil from other sources, which increases costs at the plant.
In particular, 2 batches of Kazakhstan KEBCO oil, one batch of Iraqi Basrah Light oil, and one batch of CPC Blend of 33 thousand tons of oil from Tunisia should arrive at the refinery this month, Reuters writes.
Lukoil representatives announced the possibility of selling the company's assets in Bulgaria.
