US extends Lukoil’s Neftohim operations in Bulgaria for six months

The US Department of the Treasury has extended until April 2027 the license for certain types of transactions with foreign subsidiaries of Russia’s Lukoil, which also allows Lukoil’s subsidiaries in Bulgaria to continue operations, the Bulgarian agency BTA reported today.

The new license issued by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will enable the continued operation of the Burgas petrochemical complex on the Black Sea, an extensive network of gas stations, and companies supplying fuel to aviation and the navy.

The new license will replace the previous one, which was also issued for six months in April and was set to expire today, BTA writes.

The agency notes that the US decision to allow the continuation of certain transactions with Lukoil companies abroad does not mean the lifting of sanctions against Russia, and does not include transactions with other sanctioned entities or activities prohibited under the US sanctions regime.

The US imposed sanctions on Russian state oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft in October 2025. Lukoil subsequently agreed to sell its assets abroad. Since then, US authorities have issued several temporary licenses for continued operations.

In November 2025, the Bulgarian parliament adopted a law placing the Lukoil refinery in Burgas under state control, along with amendments allowing the state to sell assets placed under state management without the consent of the Russian owner.

In the same month, Rumen Specov, former director of the Bulgarian tax administration, was appointed manager of Lukoil’s operations in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria sold 58 percent of the domestic oil company Neftohim Burgas to Russia’s Lukoil in 1999, including the refinery in Burgas. Lukoil then bought out the shares of small shareholders and indirectly owns 99.85 percent of the refinery in Burgas, which is the largest oil refinery in the Balkans.