At present, there are no risks of disruption to fuel supplies to Bulgaria, caretaker Finance Minister Georgi Klisurski said on Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday. He noted that multiple tankers are expected in March to deliver crude oil to Lukoil Neftohim Burgas, BTA reported.
Klisurski reminded that a large portion of the crude oil imported by Bulgaria comes under a long-term contract with Azerbaijan. “Firstly, deliveries pass through the Black Sea, which is currently isolated from any military actions related to the conflict in Iran. Secondly, prices were fixed before the outbreak of the conflict in Iran, as the contract is long-term.”
Regarding domestic fuel prices, the Minister noted that current increases range between EUR 0.05 and 0.09 per litre. He said this is an inevitable effect of rising international crude oil prices, which have reached around USD 90 per barrel, as well as smaller quantities arriving from Arab states, where prices are also higher. Klisurski added that he expects such increases to remain relatively limited.
He emphasized that regulators, particularly the Commission on Protection of Competition, should ensure that price changes are driven solely by market mechanisms and not by speculation.
In the long term, if the conflict in the Middle East continues and disruptions to oil supplies to Bulgaria occur, Klisurski said the caretaker Government, Lukoil Neftohim Burgas and the Customs Agency are preparing several contingency plans to ensure an uninterrupted supply of gasoline and diesel for the Bulgarian population.
The National Assembly is scheduled to hold an extraordinary session on Tuesday to hear Klisurski, Customs Agency Executive Director Georgi Dimov, Chair of the State Agency State Reserve and Wartime Stocks, Asen Asenov, and the special commercial administrator of Lukoil Neftohim Burgas, Rumen Spetsov, over fuel supplies, according to information published on the Parliament’s website on Saturday.