Bulgaria's Customs Agency has logged an appeal against the rule of the Sofia City Administrative Court, ACSC, to reinstate the license of Lukoil Bulgaria to operate excise warehouses.

According to the appeal, the magistrates unfoundedly have assumed that Lukoil Neftohim Burgas had been able to prove the type and amount of claimed damage and the likelihood of the incurring of this damage.

"The Administrative Court had built their case on the contracts presented by Lukoil for the supply of oil and fuel and the significant damage the company claims it will incur in compensations for not being able to fulfill its contracted obligations. The Court, however, failed to take into account that the order of the Customs Agency Director, Vanyo Tanov, is subject to preliminary execution under the law, article 53, paragraph 3 from the Excise and Excise Warehouses Act. The magistrates have also ignored the fact Lukoil had enough time to align its production with the requirements of the law," the Customs Agency writes in a declaration Wednesday.

The contracts show that the seller is Lukoil Bulgaria while Lukoil Neftohim Burgas is a different company not bound by the contracts, the Customs Agency's lawyers point out, adding there is also a violation of the principle of equal rights of the sides in the process because the magistrates failed to discuss the arguments of the Customs Agency.

On Monday, the Sofia City Administrative Court (ACSC) stopped the preliminary execution of the Customs Agency decision on the withdrawal of Lukoil's license and the closure of the only refinery in the country.

The crude oil processing plant in the Black Sea city of Burgas can work under the conditions preceding the punitive measure of ACSC until the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) decides on the appeal lodged by the Customs Agency.

According to a report of the state-owned TV channel BNT, little after Lukoil was officially given the green light, the tanker terminal started servicing incoming and outgoing oil tankers.

After the refinery was stripped of its license, over the failure to install electronic measuring devices, the oil processing installations of the plant were switched into hibernation mode, which allowed it to start working at full capacity within 8 hours after the Court permit.

Although Lukoil resumes operations at full steam, customs inspectors will keep monitoring the refinery and the Rosenets Oil Terminal, as well as a number of other sites, as announced in July.

Customs units will continue to keep track of the volumes of unloaded crude oil and of final products sold by the refinery and send reports to the Customs Agency headquarters in Sofia.

The Lukoil saga drew widely divergent reactions from legal experts, with some saying that the preliminary execution ruling takes effect immediately, while others insisted that the act of the Administrative Court Sofia City did not enter into force until the 7-day appeal period expired.

According to a statement of the ACSC, "The (two) rulings have not taken effect, they can be appealed through an interim appeal filed within a seven-day period before the Supreme Administrative Court."

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