The government held a series of meetings and negotiations with Lukoil management. As a result, an agreement was reached, from January 1, 2023, the company to voluntarily transfer its centre of economic activity to Bulgaria, i.e. will no longer work on processing (ishleme). In this way, all the profit from the operation of the refinery will remain in our country, and not in the Netherlands or Switzerland, as it was before. This became clear at an extraordinary briefing in the Council of Ministers. The Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev and the Minister of Economy and Industry Nikola Stojanov took part in it.
The agreement reached, together with the implementation of the additional taxation of the excess profit with a 33% tax provided for in the European regulation, will lead to many times greater revenues in the budget of Bulgaria. “As an example: for 2021, Lukoil Neftohim Burgas paid 3.5 million BGN in profit tax, for 2022 we expect about 100 million BGN, and for 2023 – many times more: between 600 and 700 million BGN”, Alexiev added. Deputy Prime Minister Alexiev noted that with the funds that the state will receive under the described mechanism, a Programme for compensation of vulnerable groups of society is being prepared and will be proposed. “The funds for compensation will be provided internally by the system, and not from the taxes of all of us, as it was until now with the compensation of 25 cents for fuel”, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
The Minister of Economy and Industry Nikola Stojanov added that the agreement that was reached today opens the door to more revenues in the Bulgarian budget, as well as to taxation of excess profits. “After the government has achieved success with gas and electricity, we can now consider that serious results are being achieved with regard to fuel prices”, the Minister of Economy and Industry said.
During the press conference, it was stated that in order to implement these agreements, it is necessary to ensure the normal functioning of the refinery – import of oil and export of the produced oil products.
“The additional revenues generated will be used to offset fuel prices for people and businesses, for which the necessary actions will be taken by the government”, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.