Vagit Alekperov, president of Russian oil major Lukoil, was quoted yesterday in Bulgarian newspaper Trud as saying that his company prefers to export its oil via the sea route through the Bosporus and that Lukoil had not made up its mind whether a proposed pipeline linking the Bulgarian port of Burgas with the northern Greek port of Alexandroupolis would be necessary. Alekperov expressed these views to Bulgaria’s foreign minister, Solomon Passy, who is visiting Moscow. The Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project was conceived by Greece and Russia as a way of bypassing Turkey as an oil exporting route. However, the project has been languishing for nine years, despite the fact that Kazakhstan also expressed interest last November. Last year, Greek and Bulgarian officials signed a memorandum of cooperation to build the pipeline, but Russia has yet to sign. Lukoil is the owner of Bulgaria’s largest refinery, in Burgas, which it a acquired four years ago.