It is the approaching US sanctions against Russian companies that are now prompting radical measures in several countries. Bulgaria announced the other day that Lukoil's Burgas refinery on the Black Sea coast is being taken over by the government in Sofia.
And now Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan says that Romania is planning the same move with the Petrotel Ploiesti refinery, media in Bucharest report.
Both of these facilities are owned by Lukoil, which according to a statement from Washington will be blacklisted by the US on November 21.
Both EU countries see the fossil fuel operations in question as so important for energy security and the local labor market that they do not want to risk closure due to the sanctions.
Germany already took over the operation of the PCK refinery in Schwedt near the Polish border in 2022. The refinery is partly owned by Russia's Rosneft, which is also subject to sanctions due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán has instead requested, and received, a temporary exemption from the sanctions.
Swedish oil billionaire Torbjörn Törnqvist's company Gunvor recently made a bid for Lukoil's international assets. But after the US Treasury Department reacted by calling Gunvor a "Kremlin puppet", the bid was withdrawn.
