site.btaEnergy Minister: Bulgaria Passed Fuel Panic Buying Stress Test

Bulgarian Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov said here on Friday that Bulgaria had passed the stress test of fuel panic buying earlier this week. "It is one thing where demand increases by 10 to 15 or even 20 per cent, and another thing to see demand treble or quadruple, milk tank trucks filled with fuel is strange, to say the least. The good news is that this stress test was passed thanks to all the colleagues who did what they had to do for the market to hold out against this pressure," Nikolov told a news conference after a meeting with the Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association.

Regarding fuel prices, Nikolov said that 6.5 million-strong-Bulgaria is open to the entire European market.

"Both producer and retail-chain prices directly depend on international markets and, unfortunately, on the prices quoted by Russia. Despite Russia's influence, oil prices have increased by several per cent in the past few weeks, and Bulgaria is not an island on which prices remain unchanged regardless of the any situation," Nikolov commented.