(MENAFN) Bulgaria confronts an "extremely difficult situation" should the Lukoil-controlled refinery in Burgas cease operations, Vice President Iliana Iotova allegedly stated Saturday, emphasizing that determinations regarding its trajectory demand nationwide—not simply legislative—agreement.

Her remarks emerged after Friday's passage of emergency statutory modifications bestowing extensive authority upon a specialized commercial administrator tasked with supervising Lukoil's Bulgarian activities.

The action eliminates shareholder voting and asset transfer privileges, while empowering the government-designated administrator to authorize or potentially divest stakes in the nation's dominant refinery, per a Bulgarian news agency.

This marks the second crisis legislation within seven weeks addressing the refinery emergency, which intensified following Washington's imposition of sanctions on Russia's Lukoil during the Ukraine conflict. Last October, Bulgaria additionally halted exports of processed petroleum products including diesel.

Iotova condemned the rapid legislative procedure, highlighting that amendments secured approval "in a record 30 seconds." She challenged, according to the news agency, the supposed urgency, arguing the statute warranted more comprehensive deliberation throughout the National Assembly.

She further disputed assertions that Bulgaria is nationalizing the facility, maintaining legislators had incorporated components of Germany's framework for provisional state administration of critical infrastructure.

"In Germany, this system has been in place for three years and will continue until 2026. This is neither a sale nor nationalization," she said.

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