The former Prime Minister of Bulgaria and leader of Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), Ivan Kostov, created the dominant position of Lukoil through its privatization.
This was stated by Radomir Cholakov, Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).

He claims that Kostov directly advised the CPC to carry out inspections of companies that simultaneously act as producers, importers, distributors, and retailers of fuels.

"Since it was during Kostov’s tenure that the company Lukoil was privatized, does he believe it was appropriate to carry out the privatization in the way he did — by privatizing the Neftochim refinery, the infrastructure, the storage facilities, the port, and everything else? And now that he is telling the CPC to take action, I want to hear his opinion," Cholakov told Nova News.

According to him, if Kostov wants to apologize for this privatization and for the mistakes he made, he can do so. "Although I doubt it. The dominant position of Lukoil-Neftochim was established at the very moment of privatization. It was privatized with a dominant market position," emphasized Radomir Cholakov.

BGNES recalls that Bulgaria’s largest oil refinery and one of the biggest in the Balkans, Neftochim, was privatized on October 12, 1999, by the government of Ivan Kostov. It was purchased by the Russian oil giant Lukoil, which acquired 58% of the company’s shares for $101 million. In early 2000, the Foreign Investment Agency declared the sale the “Deal of the Year 1999.” | BGNES