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Bulgaria gets UK sanctions waiver for seized Lukoil assets

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Sofia hopes to get US exemption later on Friday

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Bulgaria appoints manager to take over Lukoil's Burgas

refinery

(Recasts and adds detail throughout)

By Robert Harvey and Angeliki Koutantou

SOFIA/LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Britain on Friday

paused sanctions to allow Bulgaria's Burgas refinery and related

petrol stations, which have been seized from Russia's Lukoil

, to keep doing business with companies and banks.

The U.S. is expected to follow with a similar waiver later

on Friday, a source close to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets

Control told Reuters.

Since Britain and the U.S. announced sanctions on Lukoil

last month, its foreign energy empire has started to collapse,

with Bulgaria's seizure coming alongside force majeure at its

oil field in Iraq and layoffs at its Swiss trading arm.

UK OFFERS SANCTIONS REPRIEVE, US COULD FOLLOW

Britain's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation

granted licences for Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD, which handles fuel

sales and distribution, and Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD, which

manages the country's only oil refinery at Burgas.

The licences enable companies and banks to engage in

transactions with the two entities and their subsidiaries until

February 14.

Bulgaria has also requested a sanctions exemption from

Washington.

"I hope that today we will get a derogation ... for six

months," Boyko Borissov, head of the GERB party that leads

Bulgaria's ruling coalition, was quoted by news outlet BNR as

saying.

The U.S. sanctions, due to take effect on November 21, have

raised concerns about fuel supplies ahead of winter in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria has gasoline reserves to last about 35 days and over 50

days' worth of diesel, Assen Asenov, chairman of the state

reserves agency, told Bulgaria's BTA news agency this week.

BULGARIA MOVES TO SEIZE AND SELL RUSSIAN ASSETS

Britain's waiver coincides with the Bulgarian government

appointing a special commercial manager to take control of

Lukoil's Bulgarian assets on Friday.

Bulgarian lawmakers approved law changes giving a

government-appointed commercial manager powers to oversee the

continued operation of the Burgas refinery beyond November 21

and to sell the company if necessary.

The special manager announced on Friday is Rumen Spetsov,

currently the general director of the state revenue agency,

state radio reported.

"The appointment of a special manager by the Bulgarian

government has been main prerequisite for the U.S. and the UK

governments to provide a general license for the operation of

the Lukoil-owned entities in Bulgaria," said Martin Vladimirov,

director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Centre for the

Study of Democracy in Sofia.

During a security council meeting on Friday, Energy Minister

Zhecho Stankov said U.S. and British licences for Lukoil's

Bulgarian facilities to keep operating would be conditional on

payments from the Bulgarian businesses not reaching Russia.

The White House, U.S. and UK Treasuries did not immediately

respond to requests for comment.

INTERNATIONAL BUYERS SHOW INTEREST IN LUKOIL ASSETS

Britain and the U.S. announced sanctions on the two largest

Russian oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, last month

in their bid to stifle energy revenues that Moscow uses to fund

its invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. private equity firm Carlyle is exploring options to bid

for Lukoil's foreign assets, sources have told Reuters, which

the Russian company put up for sale in the wake of the sanctions

announcement.

The U.S. blocked an attempt by global commodities trading

house Gunvor to buy Lukoil's international assets.

Lukoil said on a statement on Friday that it was in ongoing

negotiations with "several potential buyers" about the sale of

its international assets, without giving details.