Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline

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This article or section contains information about a proposed, planned or under construction pipeline. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction and/or completion of the pipeline approaches, and more information becomes available.

The Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline is an oil pipeline that will be used to transport Russian and Caspian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupoli. It would be an alternative route for Russian oil for bypassing the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

Contents 1 History 2 Technical features and financing 3 International project company 4 Controversy 5 See also 6 References

[edit] History

The pipeline project was proposed in 1993–1994 by several Russian and Greek companies.^[1] In 1994, for construction of the pipeline Greece and Bulgaria signed a bilateral agreement, followed by a memorandum of cooperation, signed by Greece and Russia.^[2]

In February 1998, a Greek consortium for pipeline construction named Bapline was established, and in May 1998, a memorandum of creation of the Transbalkan Oil Pipeline Company was signed.^[2] In 2000, a technical specifications and an economic evaluation of the project were prepared by the German company ILF.^[1]

A joint protocol for preparing the pipeline's construction was signed by the three countries in January 2005.^[3] The political memorandum between governments was signed on 12 April 2005. An inter-governmental agreement on the project was agreed on 7 February 2007, and it was signed on 15 March 2007 in Athens, by the involved ministers of the three countries, under the presence of their leaders, Vladimir Putin (Russian president), Sergey Stanishev (Bulgarian prime-minister), and Kostas Karamanlis (prime-minister of Greece).^[4][5] The agreement establishing the international project company was signed in Moscow on 18 December 2007 and the company—Trans-Balkan Pipeline B.V.—was incorporated in he Netherlands on 6 February 2008.^[6][7]

Construction of the pipeline is scheduled to start in October 2009, and is estimated to be completed by 2011.^[8]

[edit] Technical features and financing

The main pipeline with a diameter of 36 inches (900 mm) will be 279 kilometres (173 mi) long, and it would transport 15-23 million tons of oil per year during the first phase, as well as 35 million during the second.^[1] The pipeline would have three oil refilling stations, two of which in Bulgaria (the first one at Neftochim close to Burgas) and one at Alexandroupoli. The project includes reconstruction of Burgas and Alexandroupolis terminals, including oil tanks with a capacity of 600,000 tons in Burgas, and 1,200,000 tons in Alexandroupolis.^[9]

The pipeline is expected to cost up to €1 billion.^[10] The investment scheme is not agreed yet, and it is not decided from which sources the pipeline will be filled.^[5]

[edit] International project company

The pipeline will be constructed and owned by the Dutch-registered Trans-Balkan Pipeline B.V.^[7] In this company, a stake of 51% of shares belongs to the Burgas-Alexandroupolis Pipeline Consortium, a joint venture of Russian Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft.^[11] Bulgarian Burgas-Alexandroupolis Project Company-BG, a subsidiary of Technoexportstroy, owns 24.5% of shares. Greece consortium HELPE S.A. - THRAKI S.A., a joint venture between Hellenic Petroleum and Thraki, which is owned by Prometheus Gas and the Latsis Group, owns 23.5%, while the Government of Greece has 1%.^[12]

There are speculations that the part of Bulgarian and Hellenic stakes could be sold to other oil companies as Chevron, TNK-BP and KazMunayGas.^[5] Also Andrei Dementyev, a deputy industry and energy minister of Russia, has proposed that Kazakhstani KazMunayGas and other shareholders of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium could be get a stake in the pipeline project.^[13] Kazakhstan's Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov has said that Kazakhstan wants to buy a stake in the pipeline consortium.^[14]

The ownership of the Burgas oil terminal remains unclear. Bulgarian opposition has demanded to scrap the deal if Russian companies are granted control over the terminal.^[4]

[edit] Controversy

There are several competitive pipeline projects, such as the AMBO pipeline from Burgas to Vlore, Pan-European Pipeline from Constanţa to Trieste, Odessa-Brody-Plotsk pipeline, Kiykoy-Ibrice pipeline, and Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline — all aimed to transport oil from the Black Sea bypassing Turkish straits. The project of the Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline is described as one of the shortest pipeline through a plain terrain and therefore to be one of the cheapest and cost effective.^[9] The critics of the Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline project have raised environmental concerns because of oil tankers traffic in the Aegean Sea, which contains numerous submerged rocks and island populations dependent on tourism and fishing.^[15] It has been mentioned that a possible oil spill in the Aegean would be devastating for Greece's tourism industry.^[16] The residents of Burgas and Sozopol in Bulgaria have voted against in the pipeline in local referendums in the spring of 2008.^[17]

[edit] See also

Wikinews has related news: Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline agreement signed in Athens

• AMBO pipeline
• Pan-European Pipeline
• Odessa-Brody pipeline
• Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline
• Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
• Caspian Pipeline Consortium
• South Stream

[edit] References