Britain has temporarily eased sanctions to allow Bulgaria’s Burgas refinery and its network of petrol stations—both owned by Russia’s Lukoil—to continue operating and conducting business

with international companies and financial institutions.

The UK introduced sanctions last month targeting Russia’s two largest oil firms, Lukoil and Rosneft. The measures were followed within a week by similar U.S. actions designed to curb financial flows supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.

On Friday, the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation announced that it had issued a licence permitting payments and economic resources to move to and from two Bulgarian Lukoil-linked entities under both existing and future contracts.

The licence applies to Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD, the operator of Bulgaria’s main refinery, and Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD, which runs the company’s petrol stations, along with their subsidiaries. The authorization runs until February 14.

A source familiar with the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control told Reuters that Washington is expected to issue a parallel licence for the Bulgarian operations later in the day.

Boyko Borissov, leader of the largest party in Bulgaria’s governing coalition, said in local interviews that he hoped the country would obtain a six-month exemption from U.S. sanctions on Friday.

The White House and the U.S. Treasury did not immediately comment.

Bulgaria’s domestic fuel reserves have dwindled to only a few weeks’ supply, according to Assen Asenov, head of the state reserves agency, who spoke to the BTA news agency earlier this week. Photo by Edal Anton Lefterov, Wikimedia commons.