The trans-Balkan Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project has not been not suspended, but no work on it is being done, head of Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft Nikolai Tokarev said on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, no practical work on the project is being done. But we can not say we have suspended it. Things are being done in a slower regime," Tokarev said.
Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boiko Borisov has repeatedly said Bulgaria would most likely abandon the 300-kilometer pipeline from the Black Sea port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis on the Aegean Sea due to environmental risks and lack of sufficient economic benefits.
Transneft has said Bulgaria had failed to repay its debt on the 1 billion euro pipeline project.
"A month ago a supervisory board meeting took place, where partners finally agreed that Bulgaria would compensate spending to other participants, the Russian and Greek parties," Tokarev said.
The pipeline's capacity amounts to 35 million tons per annum with a possible expansion to 50 million tons.