Greek, Russian and Bulgarian leaders agree on Burgas - Alexandroupoli oil pipeline agreement to be signed by end of year.

Athens 04.09.2006 - Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and visiting Russian and Bulgarian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Georgi Purvanov discussed the planned Burgas-Alexandroupoli oil pipeline and declared their intention to have the inter-state agreement on the implementation of the planned pipeline signed by the end of 2006.

Karamanlis pointed out that every effort possible must be made to safeguard the transfer of energy to enable the needs of the world economy to be met.

The $800-million project, which will run 280 kilometers (175 miles) from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to Greece's Alexandroupolis, on the Aegean, will allow Russia to export oil through the Black Sea, bypassing the crowded straits of Bosporus and the Dardanelles, in Turkey.

Russian oil will be transported by tankers from the port of Novorosiisk to Burgas and then to the northern Greek port of Alexandroupolis through the 280-kilometer pipeline. Tankers will then transport the crude oil from Alexandroupolis to destinations in the Mediterranean and Western Europe.

When completed, the pipeline will have a carrying capacity of 35 million tons per year. While this is supposed to shave off $8 per barrel in transport costs, it will only account for a small portion of Russian oil exports: In 2005, 150 million tons of Russian oil were transported by tankers crossing the Bosporus.