Bulgaria unblocks state jet fuel reserves

Bulgaria will release 1,800 tonnes of jet fuel from its state reserves to help the country's Black Sea airports after their supplier, oil refinery LUKOIL Neftochim, was forced to stop sales, the economy and energy minister said on Saturday.
"The government has allowed the state reserve to unblock jet fuels needed for one weeks' consumption," Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov told reporters. "The amounts can be released even during the weekend, but I think it will not be necessary," he said.
Airports at Varna and Burgas, managed through a tie-up led by Germany's Fraport, are running out of jet fuel in the middle of a strong holiday season after sales from LUKOIL's Bulgarian oil refinery were halted. Bulgaria's only refinery has wound down operations after the government revoked its tax fuel depot licences after the company failed to install proper product metering linked to the customs authorities, in line with regulations.
The move against the 142,000 barrels per day facility, one of the country's biggest fuel providers and taxpayers, is part of efforts to tackle fuel smuggling and tax evasion. The centre-right government is also keen to show it is serious about applying the rule of law ahead of local and presidential elections in October.
It comes as tensions with Russia are rising on major energy projects, including the building of a new nuclear power plant and a trans-Balkan pipeline, which the European Union country has been effectively delaying for the past two years.
Local analysts and commentators have welcomed the government's stand but say future moves will show whether the message that all companies are equal before the law is genuine.
Traikov said the airport at Varna had sufficient jet fuel reserves to last until Monday, while the Burgas airport was getting additional fuel from the state airport at the city of Plovdiv to ensure it can load planes. The capital Sofia's airport has said it has enough reserves for a week.
On Saturday, the refinery at the Black Sea port of Burgas - the only producer of jet fuel in the Balkans - was still processing a small amount of crude to avoid a full stoppage. "We are still working at minimal levels. We will do so until the quantities that are in installations end," a spokeswoman for the facility told Reuters. She declined to elaborate.
The refinery sells 40 percent of its fuels on the local market, but the government has said it des not expect shortages of petrol and diesel fuels because there are other importers. The cabinet has set up a crisis headquarters to monitor developments in the fuel market, and said its state reserves can meet demand for jet fuels for more than a month, while petrol and diesel reserves were sufficient for 160 days.
Traikov, whose ministry has a representative on the supervisory board of the refinery, said he would call an extraordinary meeting of the refinery's board to discuss the speedy instalment of product metering and restore operations.