Bulgaria's Customs Agency is checking whether Lukoil Neftochim is being siphoned off by its subsidiary Litasco, which controls volumes entering and exiting the oil refinery.
The announcement was made Sunday by Customs Agency head Vanyo Tanov in interview for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).
He explained that Litasco was an intermediary company registered in Switzerland.
As Litasco had been tasked with determining both crude oil prices and prices of exported end-products, Tanov...
The Bulgarian government has granted Trans-Balkan Pipeline, a Bulgarian-Greek-Russian project company, another extension on the environmental assessment of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project.
Bulgaria's Environment Ministry is granting TBP until September 30, 2011, to submit anew its environment assessment impact study on the troubled oil pipeline project.
The new extension means that the deadline for the final decision of the Bulgarian Environment Ministry and the Cabinet as...
Lukoil Bulgaria has been chronically failing to adequately pay its taxes, according to Bulgarian Customs Agency head Vanyo Tanov.
Recently a controversy developed in Bulgaria, after Tanov ordered a retraction of operation licenses of Lukoil Neftochim - the country's largest refinery - on the grounds it did not adequately disclose the amounts of fuel it is selling.
Lukoil appealed and the courts gave it back the right to operate, on the grounds that if it stopped that would cause a...
The project for the underground network of Bulgaria's capital Sofia is exemplary, according to a source in the European Commission, reports Bulgarian EU Funds Minsiter Tomislav Donchev.
According to Donchev, the DG Regional Policy representative has said that anyone building a city metro should go to Bulgaria to learn from the way the Sofia network is being built.
"Your metro is an excellent project, both in terms of speed and quality," reported the eurocrat's words a happy Minister...
A total of 15 Bulgarian and foreign companies have applied in the tender to build Lot 4 of Bulgaria's southwestern Struma Highway, the Road Infrastructure Agency announced upon opening the bids.
The applicants are from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Turkey, Bulgaia's Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev announced. Their number is the second highest number of bidders for a highway section in Bulgaria after earlier this year 17 companies competed for one of...
Bulgaria's Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Rosen Plevneliev, is attending Friday the opening of the public tender bids for Lot 4 of the Struma Highway.
The news was reported by the TV channel bTV.
Lot 4 runs between the southern town of Sandanski and Kulata on the Greek border and is 15 km-long. The investment amount is estimated at EUR 53 M, and it is financed by the EU operational program Transport.
The Struma Highway starts at the Daskalovo road junction to the...
Bulgaria's troubled state railway company BDZ has managed to increase its revenues from ticket sales by boosting its travel inspections and policing.
In January-July 2011, BDZ's revenues from the sale of tickets on board of trains grew by almost 11% compared with the same period of 2010, while in July alone, the respective revenues rose by 14%, the company announced Friday.
"As a result of the constant measures that the BDZ EAD Holding is implementing in order to reduce to the minimum the...
The Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA) and construction company Glavbolgarstroy have signed a contract for the preliminary design and construction of a new control tower at Sofia Airport.
The air traffic control tower will be 50 meters high and will be built near Terminal 2 so that the two units suit each other in terms of architecture.
"The height and the location of the tower have been selected so as to ensure that the airport will remain functional for at least 40...
Bulgaria must seek new markets for its products, and the countries in Southern Africa such as Zambia offer big opportunities, according to officials from the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
The business opportunities in Zambia have been surveyed by Raycho Iliev, BCCI representative for Southern Africa, who has informed about them BCCI Chair Tsvetan Simeonov in a letter, the Chamber's press service announced.
Iliev has informed that Zambia has been included in EU's trade...
One of the most popular magazines in the music world, Rolling Stone, has stopped to appear in a Bulgarian language edition less than two years after its launch.
Rolling Stone stepped on the Bulgarian market in November 2009 with the ambition to play a significant role in covering the musical and entertainment interests of the young people of Bulgaria, as it has successfully done in the US for more that 40 years.
Due to the adverse economic climate in Bulgaria, however, the publishers...
Data from the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute (NSI) is confirming the various reports that Bulgaria's tourism sector is enjoying a very strong summer season in 2011.
The total revenue from tourist accommodation (i.e. hotel room and apartment stays) in Bulgaria in the second quarter of 2011 reached BGN 165.3 M, an increase of 14.4% year-on-year compared with the same quarter of 2010, NSI announced Thursday.
The accommodation income from foreign tourists in Q2 is reported to have...
A map with little-known yet interesting places to visit in Sofia will be presented Wednesday to Sofia municipal councilors and the business sector.
The colorful leaflet titled "The Unknown Sofia" is to be ready by the end of the month, according to a report of state-owned TV channel BNT.
It will be distributed free of charge at airports, railway stations, hotels and border checkpoints.
Some of the sights on the map are: a mausoleum from the Late Antiquity discovered on the territory of...
The Gross Domestic Product, GDP, increased by 0.2% in both the Eurozone and the EU during the second quarter of 2011, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates.
In the first quarter of 2011, growth rates were +0.8% in both zones.
The estimates were published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 1.7% in both zones in the second quarter of 2011, after...
The sales of wine on the local market in Bulgaria are up 40% in the first half of 2011, compared to the same period of last year.
The data was released Wednesday by the Bulgarian Executive Vine and Wine Agency.
The 40% mean Bulgarians drank 11.5 millions more liters of wine in the first six months this year, compared to 2010.
Meanwhile, wine exports are up by only 1%, with half of the exported quantities going to the Russian market. There is a slight increase in exports to Romania, the...
Bulgarian banks have seen a significant growth in deposits over the last two months thanks to Greek and Romanian nationals, who rush to stash their savings here, officials and bankers say.
The deposits of foreign citizens and companies in local banks have increased by BGN 18 M and BGN 49 M respectively in June over the previous month, according to figures, cited by 24 Hours daily.
"There has been recently a noticeable trend among Greek citizens and businesses, who prefer to open deposit...
Bulgarian Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski will attend Friday the signing of a contract for the preliminary design and construction of a new control tower at Sofia Airport.
The document will be signed by the Director General of the Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA) Diyan Dinev, Glavbolgarstroy Chief Executive Officer Pavel Kalistratov and Nina Stoyanova, Executive Director and member of the Managing Board of Glavbolgarstroy.
The new air traffic control tower is...
Sofia Airport registered a monthly slowdown in passenger traffic growth in July.
In July 2011 Sofia Airport serviced a total of 336.5 passengers, up by 3% compared to the same month in 2010, according to a media statement of the company.
In June 2011, however, the annual increase settled at 6% and the half-year growth came in at 8.4%.
In July 2011, passenger traffic at the airport in Bulgaria's capital went up by 8.6% on the month.
Over 90% of the people traveled on international...
Europa Capital LLP, a member of the Rockefeller Group, has completed the acquisition of Mall of Sofia, the first shopping mall in Bulgaria's capital, the company has announced.
"Europa Capital LLP, the fund manager of Europa Fund III and the Europa Emerging Europe Fund, is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of Mall of Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria, from GE Real Estate and Avestus Capital Partners. This is Europa's second investment in Bulgaria this year and demonstrates its...
Bulgaria's government has been giving too much money for the security sector, and too little for, and that is bound to change in 2012, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov has promised.
"The major focus of the 2012 Budget Act will be the redistribution of funds from the security sector, which includes the Interior Ministry, the intelligence services, and the State National Security Agency DANS, towards science, education, and culture," Djankov pledged speaking for Nova TV Tuesday morning.
He...
Bulgarian Revenue Agency, NRA, has launched a probe of 47 yachts at the beach resort towns of St. Vlass and Nessebar on the southern Black Sea coast.
The information was reported Tuesday by the NRA press center.
The revenue agents have listed the registration plates of the yachts and now Maritime Administration is identifying their owners. NRA will follow with a check to see if the latters' declared income corresponds to their asserts. There will be an audit of the violators.
In March...
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