By Kakia Papadopoulou
Greece seems that it is under pressure to give up more of its already agreed stake in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline- and this is the reason for the series of the delays for the official signing of the project.
The Russian side is pushing Athens and Sofia to pass some of their stake, -both sides hold a 24.5% share in the project-either to Kazakhstan oil companies or even other partners that will be “useful” for future agreements to Russians.
The construction of the 280-kilometer pipeline was scheduled to be signed before the end of the year. The pipeline will carry Russian oil through Bulgaria and Greece avoiding its transit through the Bosporhus busy straits.
Disagreements between Moscow and Sofia on issues who will control the Burgas port storage facilities and for how long was the plausible excuse for the delays. But Bulgarians claim some sort of compensation if they are to give up part of their stake.
The Bulgarian Energy Minister Asen Gagauzov admitted earlier in December, that Sofia might move and sell its stake or part of it to foreign companies and has held initial talks with Kazakhstan oil company KazMunaiGas and U.S. Chevron.
However, sources close to the deal, speak of the Russian pressure to put and other partners in the project.
Kazakh officials, on the other hand appear confident that Moscow will keep its promise and they will give them a stake in the Transbalkan company-the operator of the pipeline-as a trade-off for their participation in the CPC pipeline.
The Bulgarian Energy Minister Asen Gagauzov admitted earlier in December, that Sofia might move and sell its stake or part of it to foreign companies and has held initial talks with Kazakhstan oil company KazMunaiGas and U.S. Chevron.
What is clear is that Moscow will not reduce its stake from 51% that currently holds.
If seeing it is believing it, then only time can tell how discerning was a top ranking official of the Greek construction consortium which will participate in the pipeline, who predicted that the Greek side will end up only with a 5% stake in the pipeline, despite Athens’ initial plans-which masterminded the idea of the project back in the 90’s- to control the operation of the pipeline’s management.