By Kakia Papadopoulou
The Burgas –Alexandroupolis pipeline project seems to be the top energy issue for Moscow, Athens and Sofia, as at least the Russian and the Greek side seek vehemently to finalize the agreement by the end of the year.
Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas will visit Moscow and Sofia in the coming days in a bid to speed up the whole process.
Sioufas is cautiously optimistic if the deal will be signed, as it was initially planned, by the end of the year.
Sofia, on the other hand, appears a bit reluctant to take big decisions on the deal now , as it has just came out of presidential elections. However, the reelection of Georgi Parvanov ensures the smooth continuation of the deal.
In contrast, Russians are rolling up their sleeves for the project. Three Russian oil companies, controlled by the Kremlin will share the 51% interest in the pipeline, underlining Moscow’s recent stance to leave out any foreign oil firms in its own oil business.
According to Reuters, Semyon Vainstock CEO of oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, said his firm, state oil firm Rosneft and Gazprom Neft,part of gas monopoly Gazprom, would equally share 51% of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline.
TNK-BP was at one point appointed the Russian coordinator of the project but Vainshtok said this was no longer the case.
Greece and Bulgaria will share the remaining 49% stake in the EUR700 million project.
The announcement means the Kremlin has abandoned the idea of inviting foreign majors such as US firm Chevron or TNK-BP, the Russian vehicle of oil major BP- to take a share in the project.
“Private companies can participate in talks about the remaining 49% which belong to Greece and Bulgaria,” Vainshtok said according to Reuters.
Greece has appointed the state-controlled refiner Hellenic Petroleum along with the Kopelouzos group to undertake the project. Bulgaria has appointed Neftochem to participate in the construction of the pipeline.
Industry observers see Kremlin’s decision to leave foreign oil firms out of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project, in line with Putin’s strategy to increase Russia’s control over the transport of oil and gas.
Recently, Moscow ratcheted up pressure on Royal Dutch Shell’s $22 billion oil and natural gas project on Sakhalin Island when a minister threatened to criminally prosecute employees of the British-Dutch oil company. The remarks suggested a further unraveling of the relationship between energy companies and the Russian government, which is clearly intent on gaining control of the energy sector.