Russian Involvement in Eastern Europe's Petroleum Industry: The Case of Bulgaria (Russian Foreign Energy Policy)

This report answers questions such as: as one of the largest foreign acquisitions by a Russian company occurred in Bulgaria, what lessons are applicable to charting future Russian downstream takeovers? Why have Eastern Europe and Western FSU countries been the primary focus of Russian acquisitions? What drives LUKoil (and other Russian oil companies) to pursue acquisition of assets in these regions? Finally, what is the stance of the Russian government in terms of promoting such acquisitions abroad? This series of reports establishes for the first time the confluence of Russian foreign polic. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 2 Copyright......Page 3 Contents......Page 4 Introduction......Page 5 Executive summary......Page 6 Why Eastern Europe and Western FSU?......Page 8 Drivers for expanding abroad......Page 10 The Russian state and downstream expansion abroad......Page 12 2. LUKoil’s leading role in foreign downstream acquisitions......Page 14 Neftochim prior to LUKoil’s acquisition......Page 18 The privatization of Neftochim......Page 20 Neftochim under LUKoil’s ownership......Page 23 Petrol AD’s privatization......Page 25 Petrol AD after privatization......Page 29 Bulgaria’s fuel sector after Petrol AD’s privatization......Page 30 5. Conclusions......Page 31 Notes and references......Page 33 Russian Involvement in Eastern Europe’s Petroleum Industry: The Case of Bulgaria......Page 36 ‘Georgia: Russian Foreign Energy Policy and Implications for Georgia’s Energy Security’......Page 37 ‘Ukraine: Post-revolution Energy Policy and Relations with Russia’......Page 38 ‘Belarus: Oil, Gas, Transit Pipelines and Russian Foreign Energy Policy’......Page 39 ‘Baltic Independence and Russian Foreign Energy Policy’......Page 40 Annotation This series of reports establishes for the first time the confluence of Russian foreign policy with the acquisition of foreign energy assets by Russian entities. The country profiles focus on the oil, gas, electricity and nuclear power industries. Each report, written by an author of international standing, explains how Russian foreign energy mergers and acquisitions have developed in key post-Soviet states to consolidate the new Russian empire. The Contributors are leading authorities on Russian hydrocarbons and critical energy infrastructure protection Book Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Introduction; Executive summary; 1. Russian oil companies and international downstream petroleum; 2. LUKoil's leading role in foreign downstream acquisitions; 3. LUKoil's acquisition of the Neftochim refinery; 4. Russian involvement in Bulgaria's fuel market privatization; 5. Conclusions; Notes and references; 6. About the series: Russian foreign energy policy reports.