Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov confirmed that Bulgaria will be exempted from the embargo on Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.
PM Petkov said that payments for Russian oil are effected differently from payments for natural gas and are excluded from the ruble transfer mechanism. He said that the exemption will allow the oil refinery in Burgas to be adapted to work with non-Russian oil. Bulgaria remains the only country which has an access to port but has been granted an exemption due to the understanding that the oil refinery is designed to work with Russian oil. He said that a large part of cash flows from the EU to Russia will stop because the new sanctions apply to about 90 % of EU’s oil imports.
Almost a month after the European Commission proposed a ban on Russian oil imports, member states reached a compromise after Hungary lifted its veto on a measure to cut off supplies from the Druzhba pipeline. Thus, the restrictions will cover imports of Russian oil arriving by tanker, leaving intact the quantities delivered to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic through the communist-built pipeline from Russia to Eastern Europe called Druzhba. Germany and Poland, which receive quantities on the northern branch of Druzhba, will voluntarily suspend imports by the end of the year.
