Greece and Russia plan to accelerate work on a major energy project that will allow the latter to export oil to Europe in circumvention of the world's busiest shipping lanes, the Greek development ministry said Friday.
The Russian, Bulgarian and Greek governments signed a memorandum on the construction of a pipeline stretching for 280 kilometers (175 miles) from the Bulgarian port of Burgas on the Black Sea to Greece's Alexandroupolis on the Aegean in April 2005. The project, which is expected to cost at least $800 million, will allow Russia to export oil through the Black Sea bypassing the busy Bosporus Strait in Turkey. Initial throughput capacity will be 35 metric million tons (255 million bbl) metric tons of oil before rising to 50 million tons (370 million bbl).
Greek Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas met in Athens with a Russian delegation led by Anatoly Yanovsky, the head of the fuel and energy department of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy. The delegation also included representatives from Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP, state-owned oil company Rosneft, and energy giant Gazprom.
"During the meeting, the process of implementing the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project was discussed in detail," the Greek ministry said. "The sides agreed to take measures in the near future to speed up the implementation of this project."
The next meeting between the three countries involved in the project will take place in Athens in April, the ministry said.
The list of Russian companies to be involved in the project has not yet been clarified. During a visit to the Greek capital in February 2006, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said the company was interested in participating in the project, but had not yet reached a final decision. |
