Bulgaria PM to Make Public Burgas-Alexandroupolis Contract

Business » ENERGY | December 6, 2009, Sunday // 14:33
Bulgaria: Bulgaria PM to Make Public Burgas-Alexandroupolis Contract "The contract is not profitable for Bulgaria and does not protect its national interests," Boyko Borisov said in the coastal town of Burgas. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's prime minister has vowed to publish the contract for Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, signed by the previous government, in a bid to prove how unprofitable and damaging it is for the country.

"The contract is not profitable for Bulgaria and does not protect its national interests," Boyko Borisov said in the coastal town of Burgas, adding that its clauses do not allow any of the partners in the project to withdraw.

Asked whether technical corrections can be made in the contract, Borisov said that efforts are being made to this end by a number of officials, including Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov during his visit in Greece.

"We have been holding talks with the other two countries – Greece and Russia, but unfortunately the contract makes it possible only for Bulgaria to breach it," he explained.

In his words Bulgaria is the only country, for which Burgas-Alexandroupolis is nothing more than an infrastructure project, unlike Russia and Greece, which can pile up big profits out of it.

After it took office in July 2009, Bulgaria's new center-right government of the GERB party made it clear it was going to reconsider the country's participation in the three large-scale energy projects - South Stream gas pipeline, Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, and Belene Nuclear Power Plant.

Three Bulgarian Black Sea municipalities - Burgas, Pomorie, and Sozopol - have voted against the pipe in local referendums over environmental concerns.

Municipalities neighboring Pomorie and nearby Burgas are also harboring fears that the pipeline could damage their lucrative tourism business, while environmental NGOs have branded the existing plans to build an oil terminal out at sea a disaster waiting to happen.

Bulgaria, Greece and Russia agreed to build the pipeline between Burgas and Alexandroupolis, taking Caspian oil to the Mediterranean skirting the congested Bosphorus, in 2007 after more than a decade of intermittent talks.

The agreement for the company which will construct the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil transit pipeline was signed by Bulgaria during Russian President Putin's visit to Bulgaria in 2008.

The 280-kilometer pipeline, with 166 kilometers passing through Bulgaria, would have an initial annual capacity of 35 million tonnes, which could be later expanded to 50 million tonnes. Its costs are estimated at up to USD 900 M.

It is expected to be completed by the end of 2011 or beginning of 2012.

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Tags: South stream, Burgas-Alexandroupolis, Belene, Sergei Shmatko

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