Lukoil state rep to be kicked out
Members of parliament have proposed to replace the representative of the state at Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, the operator of Bulgaria's sole oil refinery, after the parliament decided to terminate the concession of the Rosenets port used by the refinery. The concession contract for the refinery was awarded to Russia's Lukoil more than 20 years ago.
Martin Dimitrov from the WCC-DB coalition, which is part of the government, said that the current representative of the state at the refinery, Krasimir Parvanov, has never come to parliament to report on its operations.
The lawmakers also discuss whether the EU-wide ban on seaborne Russian crude oil imports granted to Bulgaria should be abolished.
Risky loans expand
Bad loans have increased for the first time since September 2022, according to monetary statistics published by the Bulgarian National Bank. At the same time, despite the BNB's measures to cool down the credit market, activity remains high. In the last month alone, banks in the country have increased their loan portfolios for households and businesses by over BGN 1 billion.
Thus, by the end of the first half of 2023, the amount of bank credit reached a new record of BGN 78.1 billion, with volumes growing in all segments - corporate, housing and consumer financing.
Electricity demand slows down
This year's data shows that electricity demand in Bulgaria has decreased by 2%, compared to 6% in Europe as a whole. The data compares demand in the first half of 2023 to the average for the last 5 years - from 2018 to 2022.
In Bulgaria, the decline in electricity consumption on an annual basis is currently 5.3%, but compared to the median for the last five years it is only 2%, as it includes the extremely lockdowned year 2020. The decline is smaller than the average for Europe, since in February demand was 6% higher - probably because of the cold period of several weeks back then.
Only Portugal registered electricity demand higher than Europe's average.
Lukoil state rep to be kicked out
Members of parliament have proposed to replace the representative of the state at Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, the operator of Bulgaria's sole oil refinery, after the parliament decided to terminate the concession of the Rosenets port used by the refinery. The concession contract for the refinery was awarded to Russia's Lukoil more than 20 years ago.
