Lukoil managed to restore operations in Bulgaria through a court order and now the company has one month to resolve all disagreements with the local authorities, according to reports of Russian print media.

According to Russian RBK Daily, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), the decision of the court comes just in time to help the country avert the imminent fuel crisis in the aftermath of the production halt at the crude oil processing plant.  

The newspaper quotes analysts as saying that Bulgaria should have made a compromise with Lukoil because "otherwise the market would be plagued by a more substantial fuel shortage".

"This counteraction is unpleasant to the Russian company but it is not critical", says Vitaliy Gromadin senior analyst at Arbat Capital.

"The positive decision of the Bulgarian court indicates the lack of any whatsoever anti-Russian motivation behind the impediments in the implementation of the joint energy projects of the two countries", Gromadin goes on to explain.

Kommersant daily cites Atanas Tasev, a member of the Bulgarian Energy Forum, who finds that the settlement of the crisis through a temporary restoration of the license serves the interests of both Lukoil and the Bulgarian authorities.
Kommersant also presents the opinion of Valeriy Nesterov from the Russian investment company Troika Dalof, who says that "formalistic pretensions of the Bulgarian authorities are understandable but halting production of the sole crude oil processing plant in the country is a far too principled and dangerous decision".

According to Nesterov, "the court obviously took into account the resulting problems with fuel supplies for airline and railway companies, which could turn into a serious issue in the holiday season".

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