MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Bulgarian authorities have never requested supplies of fuel to Ukraine from Lukoil management, according to the company’s comment on a statement made by former Bulgarian finance minister that Lukoil supplied diesel fuel to Ukraine from its refinery in Bulgaria at the request of the country’s government.

"The company already stated earlier that the enterprises of Lukoil Group do not have and have never had any contracts to supply fuel to Ukrainian territory. None of the representatives of the Bulgarian authorities has ever turned to the leaders of our enterprises asking for supplies to Ukraine," the company noted.

Lukoil sells products made at the Burgas refinery on the local wholesale and retail market exclusively to Bulgarian buyers, with the number of individual wholesale customers being roughly 500, the company added, noting that its share on the country’s diesel market stands at around 95%, whereas last year, its sales on the country’s territory were substantially lower than its consumption.

"As far as cooperation with Bulgaria’s state bodies is concerned, Lukoil holds dialogue solely on issues related to business regulation, and no political issues have been discussed as part of this dialogue," Lukoil stated.

Earlier, Germany’s Die Welt newspaper reported, citing former Bulgarian Finance Minister Asen Vasilev, that Bulgaria secretly supplied diesel fuel to the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the start of Russia’s special military operation, with petroleum products made at the Lukoil Neftohim Burgas oil refinery. A representative of the Russian embassy in Bulgaria denied the information about diesel fuel supplies made at the refinery to TASS.