Putin seeks to breathe life into stalled Balkan oil pipeline project

ATHENS (AFP) – Seeking to breathe life into an ambitious oil pipeline project stalled for 14 years, Russian President
Vladimir Putin flies in to Athens on Monday for quick tripartite talks on the issue with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov.

The three leaders want to reanimate a frozen plan to transport Russian oil by sea to the Bulgarian port of Burgas, and from there by pipeline to the Greek Aegean Sea port of Alexandroupolis.

With an estimated cost of 900 million euros (1.15 billion dollars), the 280-kilometre (174-mile) Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is designed to reduce the cost and time of transporting the Russian oil from the Caspian Sea to Europe and the United States.

Tankers currently carry out this task via the Bosphorus Straits, but traffic along the narrow waterway has intensified in recent years, raising congestion concerns.

AFP