Interfax reported that Transneft, Sovcomflot, Novoship and Trans-Balkan Pipeline B.V have signed an agreement of intent for the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project.

The agreement covers stable and safe operations in shipping hydrocarbons across the Black Sea between Novorossiisk/Yuzhnaya Ozereevka in Russia and Burgas in Bulgaria.

The project participants will engage in developing an effective logistics scheme as well as technical and commercial terms for shipping liquid hydrocarbons on the Novorossiisk-Burgas route and other routes as may be required by the project. The companies have also agreed to draft the corresponding agreements on these matters.

The Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline will link Burgas on Bulgaria Black Sea coast with Alexandroupolis on Greece Aegean Sea coast provide a new route for transporting Russian and Caspian Sea that bypasses the crowded Bosphorus and Dardanelles.

The pipeline will stretch about 300 kilometers. It will have capacity for approximately 30 million tonnes a year initially and may subsequently be upgraded to 50 million tonnes a year. The project will cost an estimated USD 900 million. In recent times Bulgaria has been unable to clearly state its position on project implementation to the other project participants.

(Sourced from Interfax)