Denunciation of Burgas-Alexandroupolis Agreement by Bulgaria Is Illegitimate - Transneft

Igor Demin, Spokesperson for Russian oil giant Transneft, has claimed that a decision of the Bulgarian Parliament on a possible withdrawal of the country from the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline would be absolutely illegitimate.

Bulgaria's government announced Wednesday that it had submitted to Parliament a proposal for the denunciation of the trilateral intergovernmental agreement for the construction and exploitation of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

Demin, as cited by BIZ-TASS, says that the withdrawal of any country from the project is regulated by two documents.

The Spokesperson for Transneft argues that the contract of the Trans-Balkan pipeline consortium stipulates that withdrawal is only possible after the finalization of the development stage of the project, i.e. after the launch of exploitation phase.

Demin says that the other document which regulates the relations between the countries is the Vienna Convention, adding that it would have been applicable if there had been no agreement in place.

Russian ITAR-TASS reminded earlier that the IGA for the implementation of the oil pipeline project had been signed in 2008, with Russia controlling a 51% stake and Bulgaria and Greece holding stakes of 24.5% each.

ITAR-TASS noted that the 300-km oil pipeline was aimed at reducing the load of Turkish Straits through which Russian and Kazakh crude oil were delivered to global markets.

The Bulgarian government adopted a decision to withdraw from the oil pipeline project in early December 2011.

Bulgaria's Council of Ministers noted hat the project could not be implemented under the parameters set out in the intergovernmental agreement with Russia and Greece from 2007.

Bulgaria proposed a termination of the IGA by mutual consent, adding that the country would withdraw from the project unilaterally within 12 months if this did not happen.