Fuel crisis in Bulgaria due to lack of Ukrainian bioethanol

Bulgaria has a gasoline crisis due to a shortage of bioethanol, which is used for mandatory blending with fuel in accordance with EU requirements. In August, some of the country’s gas stations were forced to stop selling A-95 gasoline due to a lack of bioadditives.

According to the rules, selling gasoline without bioethanol entails fines of about 25 thousand euros. At the same time, the head of the Bulgarian Oil and Gas Association Svetoslav Benchev stressed that there is enough fuel in the country, and the problem concerns the logistics of bioethanol supplies.

“This is happening because a perfect storm is being organized: a plant in Hungary closed, the European Commission limited and introduced quotas for raw materials and biofuels from Ukraine, demand increased, and we found ourselves in this situation,” he explained.

Benchev added that the situation is gradually leveling off, urged consumers not to panic and noted that the shortage did not affect the cost of gasoline. On the contrary, over the past month, prices have even decreased by 1-2%. He also does not expect them to grow in August, when demand traditionally increases due to vacations and travel.

We will add that bioethanol exports in January-March 2025 increased by 180.6% to 39.0 thousand tons compared to the same period last year. The leader in terms of volumes is “First Podolsk Energy Company”, which accounts for almost a third of the volume (30.7%).

According to analysts, in 2024, Ukraine exported 99.3 thousand tons of bioethanol, of which 87.6% was undenatured alcohol. The main destinations of supplies were the EU countries and Switzerland.

Tags: fuel, Ukraine, Bulgaria