Austrian press reports of the Lukoil saga in Bulgaria have emphasized the superiority of the energy giant, at the same time advising the country to be careful about its energy relations.

"Lukoil has shamed the Bulgarian government", Der Standard wrote, while Wirtschaftsblatt cautioned that Bulgaria was "playing with fire".

"A court decision tilted the balance in favor of the Russian monopoly Lukoil in its fight with Bulgaria's customs office", Der Standard went on to say, as cited by Bulgaria's Focus news agency.

Administrative Court – Sofia City moved Monday to stop the preliminary execution of the decision of the Customs Agency to withdraw the tax warehouse operator permits of the Burgas-based petroleum refinery.

The center-right Borisov Cabinet backed the measure undertaken by the customs administration, as the Prime Minister publicly revealed that his personal friendship with Lukoil Bulgaria CEO Valentin Zlatev took a back seat to the observance of the law.

Citing rampant speculations about the motives behind the radical steps against Lukoil, Der Standard emphasized the hypothesis that the events were connected to the implementation of other Russian energy projects in Bulgaria like Belene NPP and the Bourgas - Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

"Perhaps, as some believe, Borisov wants to show Moscow that he is a strong man", the Austrian daily wrote.

"The argument between Bulgaria and oil giant Lukoil, which controls the sole operational refinery in the Balkan Country, has entered a new stage", Wirtshaftsblatt suggested.

According to the business daily, some of the reasons for Bulgaria's altercation with the biggest private Russian company were persisting spikes in Lukoil's fuel prices and civil discontent over the costly commodity.

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