On November 8 Bulgarian Parliament discussed on first reading the amendments to be made to the Law of the Obligatory Reserves of Oil and Oil Products, Bulgarian News Agency BTA reported.

According to the draft amendments the obligatory reserves of oil and oil products produced and stored by the State Reserve and War-Time Stocks State Agency should be set apart as a separate category of stocks with a different function than this of the state reserves and war-time stocks of fuels.

Those who refuse to cooperate during inspections and who do not follow the inspectors' orders would be fined.

The competent state bodies would be required to provide information upon request. The National Statistical Institute would have to give information on the quantity of oil products produced in the country, the quantity of oil extracted and the oil producers for the past year. The National Revenue Agency would have to provide information on deliveries of oil products to and from member states of the EU.

The amendments included the possibility of storing certain amounts of obligatory oil reserves in other member states of the EU based on individual agreements between the Council of Ministers and the governments of the member states.

Additional requirements for the registration of the obligatory oil products reserves storehouses were to be introduced.

In case difficulties with oil and oil products deliveries would occur, the European Commission (EC) would have to be informed. The EC would receive statistics on a monthly basis on the quantity of oil products produced in Bulgaria. It would also be informed on the measures undertaken to overcome the negative effects in case deliveries of oil and oil products to Bulgaria were to decrease.