LUKoil Bulgaria unveiled plans to invest hundreds of millions of US dollars in a new capacity at its Bourgas refinery, LUKoil press office said on June 26. The news is consonant with the statement of LUKoil president Vagit Alekperov, who during his recent visit to Bulgaria said investments in the refinery would reach $1 billion through 2013.

The company, which is the sole producer and one of Bulgaria's largest fuel distributors, plans to have the capacity operational by 2013. Its product line will be low-sulphur fuels conforming to the Euro 4 environmental standard.

Part of the planned investments are to enhance the capacities of its desulphurisation installations as well as the ones to produce black fuel.

Currently, LUKoil Neftochim processes 7.5 million tonnes of crude oil a year, just as much as the market needs are. The production capacity of the refinery is nine million tonnes of crude oil.

LUKoil Bulgaria director general Valentin Zlatev attributed the key reasons for the surge in crude oil prices on international markets was the hike in excise duties and VAT, the low revenues and the purchasing power of the population.

Meanwhile, parent company LUKoil said it would double the number of petrol stations on the Balkans to at least 350, Russian media quoted LUKoil vice president Leonid Fedun as saying. The expansion would be co-ordinated through its Bulgarian unit, LUKoil Bulgaria, Fedun said.

In mid-July, Zlatev told reporters the company planned to set foothold in Albania and through its flagship office to draw up a business development strategy.

Presently, the Russian company has offices in almost all Southeastern European countries, namely Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recently, the company also acquired Croatia-based fuel retailer Europa-Mil and said it would build 28 new petrol stations before the year expires.

According to SeeNews corporate wire, the volume of investments of the Russian corporation have been estimated at $700 million.