"Oil and gas explorations at Vranino halted, await court ruling", 16 January 2015

At present no exploration works are being carried out at the Vranino field in northeastern Bulgaria, as the verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) is awaited…The decision [to begin exploration] caused sharp negative reaction and civil protests on fears that the exploration works might lead to pollution of the fertile lands of the region and the subsoil waters. As a response, the Environment Ministry placed additional conditions on the investor, which exclude the possibility of using fracking and other unconventional methods during the exploration.