Austrian investor in the project to construct a crude oil refinery in Silistra, PETROMAXX Energy Group GmbH, intended to pull out of the project, legal representative of the Bulgarian subsidiary PETROMAX Refinery Bulgaria AD, Vladimir Nenchev, told Reuters as reported by Dnevnik daily.

The construction of the refinery and its putting into operation was postponed for the second time in a year, Nenchev said.

The initial plans were that the refinery would start working in Autumn 2007. In February the company delayed construction for technical reasons. The company then promised to start in the autumn and to be ready by the end of the year, Dnevnik daily said. For now plans were that the refinery be put into operation in mid-2009.

The delay was caused by delays in issuing of necessary construction permits, as well as delays in the construction of a thermo-electric power plant necessary for the refinery. According to Nenchev the 60-megawatt capacity had to be ready by the end of 2008.

In the meantime PETROMAXX was negotiating the sale of its majority share in the company and a deal was expected to be reached by the end of 2007. The change of property would not affect the project, which would be supported by Vladimpex Group. The DAKSI company register showed that the latter was the owner of former Silistra wine plant Vinko 97/current Vladimir Distillers, whose manager is Vladimir Nenchev, Dnevnik daily said. Nenchev promised the new structure of the project would be clear in a months' time.

The investment in the new refinery was estimated at 240 million dollars. The refinery would process 30 000 barrels of oil per day. The raw materials for the refinery's production would be imported from Russia.

If the company's project was realised, this would be the second oil processing refinery in Bulgaria after LUKOIL Neftochim Bourgas, part of Russian oil giant LUKOIL, Dnevnik daily said.