Though a deal has yet to be confirmed, several bidders have set their eyes on the Bulgarian oil refinery.

The Financial Times (FT) has reported that Russian state energy group Lukoil has decided on a final bidder in the sale of its largest Balkan asset.

According to a letter sent to the office of Russian president Vladimir Putin obtained by FT, Lukoil has chosen a Qatari-British Consortium made up of Oryx Global and British commodity trading house DL Hudson to purchase its majority stake in Lukoil Neftohim Burgas, an oil refinery in Bulgaria, by the end of 2024.

No confirmation has been made by either Oryx Global or London-based DL Hudson, both of which have declined to respond to FT’s request for comments.

Putin must sign off on the deal to pass.

The FT also claimed that other several bidders have expressed interest in purchasing the Bulgarian oil refinery, including Azerbaijani state energy company Socar, Kazakhstani state’s KazMunayGas, and Turkey’s Opet, all of which have also not commented on the matter.

The bid comes as pressure mounts from the European Union’s ban on Russian oil imports ignited by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

As a result, Bulgaria has also pushed for Lukoil to exit its territory, placing high tax rates on the company’s profits and banning the export of Lukoil Neftohim Burgas’s products in efforts to push Lukoil out.

Europe’s fragile energy market witnessed a difficult period between the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and the start of the Russia’s war on Ukraine in 2022, spiking the prices of oil and gas.