Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Italy will sign an agreement March 27 to build the Pan-European Oil Pipeline linking Constanta in Romania to Trieste in Italy, news agency Mediafax reported Monday.
The final form of the agreement will be discussed in Zagreb March 6, Romania's secretary of state with the Economy and Finance Ministry Viorel Palasca said Monday.
Basescu said last month the Constanta-Trieste pipeline may be the safest and most efficient route to get Caspian oil to European Union member states, while the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline project will provide a strategic transit route from the vast Caspian and Central Asia oilfields to western Europe.
The 1,400 kilometer-long Constanta-Trieste oil pipeline is expected to cost around $2.6 billion and is slated for service in 2012.