Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline

[
Burgas-Alexandroupoli oil pipeline] 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. The pipeline will be an alternative route for Russian oil bypassing the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Its construction will begin in June of 2009, and is estimated to be completed by the beginning of 2011.cite news
url = http://www.downstreamtoday.com/News/Articles/200806/Burgas_Alexandroupolis_Construction_Set__11275.aspx
title = Burgas-Alexandroupolis Construction Set To Start Next Year
publisher = Downstream Today
date = 2008-06-09
accessdate = 2008-06-12]

History

The pipeline project was proposed in 1993–1994 by several Russian and Greek companies.cite news
url= http://www.transneft.ru/Projects/Default.asp?LANG=EN&ID=229
title=Burgas-Alexandrupolis Pipeline Project
publisher=Transneft
accessdate=2007-02-15] 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.cite news
url= http://www.bridge-mag.com/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=111&Itemid=31
title=Everybody wins
author= Peggy Papakosta
publisher=Bridge Magazine
accessdate=2007-02-15]

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. In 2000, a technical specifications and an economic evaluation of the project were prepared by the German company ILF.

A joint protocol for preparing the pipeline's construction was signed by the three countries in January 2005.cite news
url= http://www.greekembassy.org/Embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office=8&folder=531&article=14580
title=Greece, Russia, Bulgaria move closer to building Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline
date= 2005-01-29
publisher=Embassy of Greece to the United States
accessdate=2006-05-07] The political memorandum between governments was signed on 12 April 2005.

In May 2006, there was a controversy in the media regarding the Bulgarian government's alleged withdrawal from the project, but this has been denied later by Bulgarian officials.cite news
url= http://www.hri.org/news/greek/apeen/2006/06-05-03_2.apeen.html
title=Greek FM: Bulgaria still partner in Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline
date= 2006-05-07
publisher=HR-Net
accessdate=2007-02-15] 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).cite news
url= http://www.pdi.ie/nl/News-And-Events/Economy/Bulgaria-Greece-Russia-Finalize-Details-on-Long-awaited-Pipeline-Deal.html
title=Bulgaria, Greece, Russia finalize details on long-awaited pipeline deal
date= 2007-02-06
publisher=Associated Press
accessdate=2008-02-24] cite news
url= http://www.rbcnews.com/komment/komment.shtml?2007/02/08/31356263
title=Burgas-Alexandroupolis project getting underway, but many questions remain
date= 2007-02-08
publisher=RBC Daily
accessdate=2007-02-15] 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.cite news
url = http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article146099.ece
title = Trans-Balkan partners form operator
publisher = Upstream Online
date = 2007-12-18
accessdate = 2007-12-19]

Technical features and financing

The main pipeline with a diameter of convert|36|in|mm|-2 will be convert|279|km|mi|0 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. 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 w1,200,000 tons in Alexandroupolis.

The pipeline is expected to cost up to €1 billion.cite news
url= http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/04/business/gas.php
title=Russia agrees to speed up Balkan oil pipeline project
date= 2006-09-04
publisher=International Herald Tribune
accessdate=2006-09-23] The investment scheme is not agreed yet, and it’s not decided from which sources the pipeline will be filled.

International project company

The pipeline will be constructed and owned by Trans-Balkan Pipeline B.V.cite news
url = http://www.nortonrose.com/news/latest/news14271.aspx?lang=en-gb
title = Norton Rose Group advises on Burgas - Alexandroupolis pipeline project
publisher = Norton Rose Group
date = 2008-03-05
accessdate = 2008-06-12] 51 % of shares belongs to the Burgas-Alexandroupolis Pipeline Consortium, a joint venture of Russian Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft.cite news
url = http://top.rbc.ru/english/index.shtml?/news/english/2007/02/02/02091504_bod.shtml
title = Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft set up consortium
publisher = RBC News
date = 2007-02-10
accessdate = 2007-02-14] Bulgarian Burgas-Alexandroupolis Project Company-BG, a joint venture of Bulgargaz and Transexportstroy, 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 %.cite news
url= http://bsanna-news.ukrinform.ua/newsitem.php?id=1314&lang=en
title=State of registration for Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project company to be proposed within week
date= 2007-07-13
publisher=BSANNA News
accessdate=2008-03-05]

There are speculations that the part of Bulgarian and Hellenic stakes could be sold to other oil companies as Chevron, TNK-BP and KazMunayGas. 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.cite news
url= http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061121/55847812.html
title=Russia makes proposal on final trans-Balkan pipeline agreement
date= 2006-11-21
publisher=RIA Novosti
accessdate=2008-02-24] Kazakhstan's Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov has said that Kazakhstan wants to buy a stake in the pipeline consortium.cite news
url = http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article131515.ece
title = Balkan pipeline talks on table
publisher = Upstream Online
date = 2007-04-19
accessdate = 2007-04-21]

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.

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.cite paper
url= http://www.doingbusiness.ro/energy2007/presentations/getfile.php?filename=AMBO-Christos_Dimas.pdf
title=Burgas -Alexandroupolis Oil Pipeline Project
author = Christos Dimas
location= 3rd Emerging Europe Energy Summit
format=PDF
date= 2007-11-08
publisher=Bapline
accessdate=2008-03-05] The critics of the 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.cite journal
url= http://www.bankwatch.org/publications/mail.shtml?x=1563936#time
title=Time to wake up from South-East Europe’s pipeline dreams
date= 2006-03-03
publisher=CEE Bankwatch Network
journal=Bankwatch Mail
issue=27
accessdate=2007-02-15] It has been mentioned that a possible oil spill in the Aegean would be devastating for Greece's tourism industry.cite news
url= http://www.balkanalysis.com/2004/12/29/ambo-trans-balkan-pipeline-agreement-finally-signed/
title=AMBO Trans-Balkan Pipeline Agreement Finally Signed
date= 2004-12-29
publisher=Balkananalysis.com
accessdate=2007-02-15] The residents of Burgas and Sozopol in Bulgaria have voted against in the pipeline in local referendums in the spring of 2008.

ee also

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

References