Russian giant Gazprom, the sole supplier of natural gas to Bulgaria, is preparing to set foot on the local fuel retail market.

The company has already launched its expansion in Bulgaria through its Serbian unit, Naftna Industrija Srbije, which has started buying filling stations in Bulgaria, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

NIS Petrol EOOD, which has already sealed contracts for the purchasing small filling stations currently operated by Geriya EOOD, Ir Max EOOD, B Plus OOD, Gand Oil OOD, Tim Oil OOD, Arena – I.T. EOOD and by two natural persons – Krasimir Georgiev and Teodora Yordanova, was registered in Bulgaria in end-August.

According to Andrey Delchev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association (BPGA), the Russian energy giant is eyeing a market share of around 8%.

If this happens, NIS Petrol will become the fourth fuel retailer in the country and will outpace Eko-Elda Bulgaria, a subsidiary of Greek Hellenic Petroleum Group, which has a market share of around 7%.

Analysts say that the company cannot achieve its goal unless it buys several filling station chains, even if they are of the smaller type.

Gazprom's unit is said to have started talks with Petrol, which is in a tough financial condition and urgently needs money to meet bond payments, but no deal has yet been reached at this stage.

Bulgaria has a total of 3122 filling stations, 1300 of which belong to companies which are members of the BPGA, according to statistics of the Commission on Protection of Competition.