Transneft Refuses to Give Up on BA Pipeline Project

The 280-km pipeline, planned to link the Black Sea port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis on the Aegean Sea, was designed to transport 35 million tons of oil a year. File photo

Russian company Transneft has not given up on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, the company's Deputy President Mikhail Barkov has revealed.

The project is suspended, Barkov has said, as cited by RIA Novosti. However, he has pointed out that it would take just several months for the pipeline to be built if it is revived.

The project's supervisory body will hold a meeting on March 13.

In the beginning of February, Bulgaria paid off a EUR 4.7 M euro debt to Russia for its withdrawal from the construction project of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline. The country is expected to pay interests later.

In December, Bulgaria's government announced it would terminate its participation in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, explaining that it was economically unfavorable for the country.

Bulgaria's Finance Minister Simeon Djankov revealed that his country will seek a termination of the trilateral intergovernmental agreement by mutual consent and if the request is rejected, it will pull out of the oil pipeline project in 12 months, as one of the clauses of the contract stipulates.

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