Bulgaria has made the decision to replace its imports of Russian crude oil with oil from other countries such as Kazakhstan, Iraq, and Tunisia.

Bulgaria has a waiver from a European Union embargo that allows it to continue seaborne imports of Russian oil in 2024. But the country has restricted exports of all refined products produced from Russian crude from this month, which makes it almost impossible for its sole refinery to run on Russian oil, and has decided to stop all Russian crude imports from March.

The profitability of the plant is also affected by a 60% tax imposed by Bulgaria’s government on the refinery’s profits.

In January, the Burgas refinery, which is operated by Russia’s Lukoil and has a capacity of 190,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), was set to receive two 70,000-metric-ton cargoes of Kazakhstan’s KEBCO crude, one 76,000-ton cargo of Basrah Light, one 50,000-ton cargo of CPC Blend, and 33,000 tons of oil from Tunisia. These replacements for Russian oil come at a higher cost, as the supply of KEBCO is limited and its price is higher than that of Urals, the grade of Russian oil previously used by the refinery.

The Burgas refinery is designed to process Urals oil and is currently only able to run on sour grades, which are difficult and expensive to obtain in the EU. This is due to the tight market for sour barrels in Europe, as there is currently no availability of Urals and Kurdish oil. Besides, oil exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region have been suspended since last spring.

In light of these changes, Lukoil has announced that it is reviewing its strategy with regards to its assets in Bulgaria and may consider selling them.