The trials and tribulations of the proposed project for a pipeline that would carry Russian oil overland from the Bulgarian port of Burgas on the Black Sea to Alexandroupolis on the Aegean seem to be coming to an end.
Deputy Development Minister Giorgos Salagoudis is to meet with Russian and Bulgarian government officials in Moscow this morning, and expected to announce the final signature date for the project in Sofia, which diplomatic sources say is likely to be May 15. Progress is said to be the result of favorable recent reports submitted by an initiative group of 10 companies from the three countries involved in the project, including Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum, the Latsis group and Prometheus Gas. The group, led by TNK-BP, a British Petroleum subsidiary, also includes LUKoil and Transneft. The project is expected to be completed in 2008, with the construction of a new harbor at Alexandroupolis. The total cost is projected at $700 million. At the last EU council of industry ministers, Greece requested a Community subsidy of 100 million euros. Russia recently reached an agreement that will increase the Kazakhstan-Novorossiysk pipeline’s yearly oil transit capacity from 28 million tons to 67 million tons. The Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is expected to carry 35 million tons per year.