SOCAR and Turkey’s Cengiz form consortium to bid for Lukoil’s Burgas refinery

The State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR)  and Turkey’s Cengiz Holding have established a consortium to negotiate the acquisition of LUKOIL  refinery in Burgas, Bulgaria.

Several other major players are also eyeing the asset, including Kazakhstan’s national oil company KazMunayGas  international trader Vitol  Turkey’s pension fund OYAK  and Hungary’s MOL Group 

Lukoil has been unable to process Russian crude at the Burgas facility for the past 18 months due to sanctions, while Azerbaijan and Turkey are well-positioned to supply the refinery with stable feedstock volumes. For Baku, the deal could pave the way to restart the Baku–Supsa pipeline, idle since spring 2022, restoring part of its transit role in the Black Sea region.

A successful acquisition would bolster the presence of Azerbaijan and Turkey in Europe’s energy sector, provide Bulgaria with an opportunity to reduce its reliance on Russian capital, and allow Lukoil to mitigate the risk of U.S. sanctions while monetizing a problematic asset.

N.Tebrizli