March 4 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian oil refinery Lukoil Neftochim Burgas and fuel retailer Lukoil Bulgaria, both units of Russia's Lukoil, dismissed as misleading media reports of expected fuel shortages in the country as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The refinery is operating at full capacity and there are no problems with the supply of raw materials, as well as with fuel deliveries to the filling stations in Bulgaria, the two companies said in a joint statement on Thursday, as the war in Ukraine entered its second week.
"We continue to fulfil all our commitments to our partners and the state. We have all the necessary resources to continue operating normally, despite the complicated situation," the companies said.
Some local media outlets reported on Thursday that long queues had formed in front of petrol stations in the country over fears of a rise in fuel prices or a potential shortage.
"Panic about fuels is being sown at the moment, for no reason whatsoever. One tanker unloaded today, two more tankers are waiting to be unloaded at Lukoil," prime minister Kiril Petkov said in a statement published on his Facebook profile late on Wednesday.
Fuel price tensions are the result of people's expectations that sanctions imposed by the EU and the U.S. on Russia over the war in Ukraine will stop the supply of crude oil to Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, hence the refinery will stop operating and there will be fuel shortages, Andrey Delchev, executive director of the Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association, said as seen in a video file published on the website of public television BNT on Friday.
According to information published in its website, the Neftochim Burgas refinery, about 15 km away from the coastal city of Burgas, is the largest oil refining enterprise on the Balkan peninsula and a major supplier of fuels for Bulgaria's domestic market.
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