Russia's president urged Bulgaria and Greece Thursday to overcome objections to the construction of a $1 billion oil pipeline in the Balkans.

The 280-kilometer (175-mile) pipeline will pump Russian oil to Europe, the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region via the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas and Greece's Alexandroupolis, on the Aegean, enhancing the Balkan states' role as important energy transportation hubs, RIA Novosti reported. 

"If the dispute, which meets neither Bulgarian nor Greek economic interests, does not end, the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline... will never be built," Vladimir Putin told a news conference in the Kremlin.

In this case "Bulgaria and Greece will lose an opportunity to become transit countries of hydrocarbons from Russia and the Caspian Sea regions to Europe," he added.

Putin urged Bulgaria and Greece to reach an agreement as soon as possible, adding that the countries are members of the European Union, which "should be highly interested in the implementation of this project."

Russia, Bulgaria, and Greece signed a memorandum on the pipeline in April 2005, which will pump 35 million metric tons of oil a year (257.25 million bbl), a volume that could eventually be increased to 50 million metric tons (367.5 million bbl).

The project, designed to bypass the often-crowded Bosporus Strait in Turkey, received a further boost during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Greece in September 2006, when he met with the Greek prime minister and Bulgaria's president over the pipeline.

The project has been on the agenda for more than 10 years, but progress has been slow reportedly over Russian producers' reluctance to contribute oil to the pipeline.

Russia's state-controlled oil producer Rosneft [RTS: ROSN], state pipeline operator Transneft, and energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] will hold 51% overall in the project. Greece and Bulgaria are still to assign the remaining 49% stake.

 Print This Article      Email This Article