Insurance costs for tankers moving crude across the Black Sea have climbed from roughly $200,000 to $2.5 million per vessel in recent months, according to Lukoil's top commercial manager in Bulgaria.

Evgeni Simeonov, Lukoil's special commercial manager in Bulgaria, gave the figures in an interview with Bulgarian National Television on Monday. He said the surge reflects mounting risks to commercial shipping after repeated attacks on vessels in the region.

The increase lands directly on freight economics. Higher premiums raise the delivered cost of crude cargoes, and those costs feed into wholesale fuel prices in Bulgaria, a market heavily supplied through Black Sea logistics. Simeonov did not specify a timeline for any pass-through to retail pump prices, local media reported.

What does the premium jump mean for freight rates?

War-risk insurance (the cover shipowners buy for voyages through high-risk waters, priced as a percentage of hull value) has become the swing variable in Black Sea tanker economics. A rise from about $200,000 to $2.5 million per voyage represents a twelve-fold increase in the insurance line item alone.

Simeonov framed the numbers as an operational pressure point rather than a market call. He said the increase follows repeated attacks on commercial shipping, without attributing the premium level to any single underwriter or broker.

Which operations are exposed?

Lukoil's Bulgarian downstream business anchors the exposure. The company operates the Neftochim Burgas refinery on the Black Sea coast, the country's key fuels supplier, and its crude intake depends on seaborne deliveries through waters now carrying elevated risk premiums.

Takeaway: the insurance spike is a freight-cost story, not yet a supply-cuts story. No loading suspension or force majeure has been announced.

Who said what?

Simeonov told Bulgarian National Television the rise "reflects mounting risks to commercial shipping following repeated attacks." He positioned the cost increase as a pressure point on fuel prices in Bulgaria.

No figures beyond the $200,000-to-$2.5 million range were disclosed. No underwriter, broker or P&I club (shipowners' mutual liability insurers) was named in the report.

What is the watch item?

The item to track is pass-through. Bulgarian fuel prices will show within weeks whether refiners and traders absorb the higher war-risk premiums or shift them to wholesale and retail margins.

A secondary watch item is further premium escalation. Any additional attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea would push war-risk cover higher still, and at some threshold voyages become uneconomic without charterer guarantees.

Takeaway: watch Bulgarian pump prices and the next war-risk quotes for Black Sea routes — those two numbers will tell the story.