Deputies gave the go-ahead on two important bills for the future of the Lukoil refinery, including the export of oil and oil products

Two important bills concerning the future of the Lukoil refinery and, in particular, the management, supply and export of oil and oil products from Russian crude oil, were passed by the people's representatives in the first reading on Tuesday. The first concerns the control and derogation for the purchase, import or transfer of crude originating in Russia or exported from Russia, imported by DPS, the second – the introduction of the figure of a special manager, so that the national interest is protected in case of difficulties in the management of the refinery. It should be emphasized that the second bill is not specifically aimed at the oil refinery, but also concerns various cases affecting enterprises from the critical infrastructure, including energy.

The DPS bill concerns the suspension of the export of fuels from Bulgaria that are produced from Russian crude oil, as well as petroleum products originating in or exported from Russia, including exports from Bulgaria to the EU or third countries of Russian crude oil. The restrictions specifically refer to the "Lukoil Neftohim Burgas" refinery. 146 people's representatives declared themselves in support of the bill, 44 were "against" and 4 abstained. "BSP for Bulgaria" and "Vazrazhdane" declared against him.

The bill proposes a ban on the export of crude oil and oil products, subject to the derogation granted to Bulgaria by the EC. He proposes the introduction of excise taxation on the products produced by the refinery in Burgas. Revenues from excise taxes, according to the proposed texts, should be directed to compensate businesses for high electricity prices. Fines are also foreseen in cases of non-fulfillment of the provisions of the legislative texts. In particular, it is about sanctions from BGN 20,000 to BGN 50,000 for the first violation and from BGN 200,000 to BGN 500,000 for a second violation in the event that the relevant declaration is not filed as an importer of crude Russian oil or oil products originating in Bulgaria Russia no later than 7 days before the import is carried out.

Within the framework of the debate, the deputies from the various parliamentary groups repeated their theses, developed earlier in the energy committee of the National Assembly.

Thus, the former energy minister and current member of the parliament from the BSP Dragomir Stoynev once again stood behind the thesis that it is not the job of the deputies to interfere in the work of the government. "The BSP will not support the texts for one reason, it is not the job of the Bulgarian parliament to exercise control over a given derogation, it has its own institutions," said Dragomir Stoynev from the centenary party. Stanislav Anastasov from DPS entered into a debate with him, according to whom a foreign company is currently processing the fuel of another foreign company and that none of this is a Bulgarian product. "Worse, we have absolutely no control if they decide to shut down this refinery. That's why we need a bill - to control what's going on and not rely on someone else," he said. However, with this statement, Anastasov contradicted Bulgarian and European legislation, which treat Lukoil and the products produced as Bulgarian. By the way, this is also stated in an opinion of the Ministry of Finance. "Vazrazhdane" represented by MP Stoyan Taslakov warned that upon implementation of the presented bill the refinery will have to stop working.

Former Minister of Energy Delyan Dobrev from GERB-SDS, for his part, declared readiness to support the draft law and shared a firm opinion that the work of "Lukoil" is not endangered.

Later it became clear that the MPs from "Continuing the Change" will submit legislative proposals, with which Bulgaria will be able to export fuels produced from Russian crude oil, only according to the directive of the European Commission. Exactly what they will be remains to be seen.

Special manager

The bill on the administrative regulation of economic activities related to oil and oil products, proposed by Ivaylo Mirchev ("Democratic Bulgaria") and a group of people's representatives, also passed the first reading. The aim of the introduced bill is to give an opportunity in the hands of state institutions to have an instrument that allows the state to react in complex situations in order to guarantee the security of the critical infrastructure in the "Energy" sector related to oil and petroleum products, security of supply, quality of service, price levels and, accordingly, the health and life of Bulgarian citizens. This was explained from the rostrum by Nadezhda Yordanova, the deputy from "Democratic Bulgaria".

According to her, the draft law assumes cases in which there are circumstances that threaten the national security of the state, as well as those, according to which the imposed international restrictive measures are somehow violated or the state's monopoly position is abused, in the person of the Minister of economy and industry, following a proposal from the advisory board to him to appoint a special commercial manager in the relevant critical infrastructure operator.

We propose that in a risky situation, the state can appoint one in every commercial company - operator of critical infrastructure in the "Energy" sector, more specifically in the "Oil and petroleum products" sector, in order to overcome this crisis situation, explained Yordanova.

She specified that the possibility of appointing a special commercial manager is limited to only 6 months and can be extended only once more. The court will be able to check whether there are special circumstances that allow the imposition of this measure, explained Yordanova.

The former energy minister and current BSP MP Dragomir Stoynev, as well as during the debates in the energy commission, took the position that the draft law fills an existing gap in the Bulgarian legislation and declared his support. At the same time, he said that serious changes are needed.

The former Energy Minister Temenuzka Petkova (PG of GERB-SDS) announced herself to clarify and bring clarity to the terminology. As before in the energy committee, she pointed out that the bill deals with two terms - a special representative of the state and a special commercial representative. According to her, these texts should be refined. In addition, it should be clarified whether it is critical infrastructure or strategic activities and sites.

The opinion of the "Vazrazhdane" MPs, who saw the bill as an attempt at nationalization, remained negative.