Putin to sign long-delayed oil pipeline deal in Athens

[Ricardo Reis]

Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin chat prior talks in Athens. Putin was set to sign Thursday a long-delayed agreement with Greece and Bulgaria to build a 900-million-dollar pipeline to carry Russian oil from the Black Sea to the Aegean





Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to sign Thursday a long-delayed agreement with Greece and Bulgaria to build a 900-million-dollar pipeline to carry Russian oil from the Black Sea to the Aegean.
The signature of the agreement with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev will bring to an end 14 years of talks on building the 280 kilometre-long (175 mile) pipeline between the Bulgarian port of Burgas and the port at Alexandroupolis in Greece.
The pipeline project has been repeatedly delayed, most notably because the Russians doubted whether it made economic sense.
But soaring oil prices and the inauguration in July of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, linking the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean while bypassing Russia, prompted Bulgaria, Greece and Russia to speed up the signing of the deal.
"This project will boost Europe's energy security and reduce the environmental risks linked to the traditional (marine) transport of hydrocarbons in the region," a Kremlin source said this week.
Work on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is expected to begin next year and last 18 months.
Once completed, the pipeline will be able to transport between 35 and 50 million tonnes of Russian oil per year.
A Russian consortium of the Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom energy companies will hold a 51 percent stake in the pipeline, while Greek and Bulgarian companies will split the remainder.
Putin, who arrived in Greece on Wednesday evening, was accompanied by the Russian ministers for foreign affairs and energy.
Before arriving in Greece, Putin had been in Italy for talks that also centred on energy issues. The Russian leader was to leave Athens Thursday afternoon.



Smells like an Orthodox alliance to me.

[Lucas Corso]

This is great, in this way the atlantist project of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline will be nearly useless!!!

[Menydh]

Lucas, can you tell more about the atlantist side of that project?

[Reltih]

The left gyu in the photo is greek, not the bulgarian premier who looks differently. I watched the TV covering of story. Putin looked on the whole very strange, somewhat ashamed - as if he was a boy accidently fell into the women bath. No idea why.

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Lucas, can you tell more about the atlantist side of that project?

The route of the pipeline runs all throught states close allies of the USA and its aimed to geopolitically shift the south caucasus from the russian influence to the turkish/USA influence...
Here you can find more info and a map: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[legione muti]

Originally Posted by Obshtestvena syvest

The left gyu in the photo is greek, not the bulgarian premier who looks differently. I watched the TV covering of story. Putin looked on the whole very strange, somewhat ashamed - as if he was a boy accidently fell into the women bath. No idea why.

Yes, we know that

[Reltih]

Originally Posted by legione muti

Yes, we know that

Who are "we". I was the first to mention that.

[Crvena zvezda]

Originally Posted by Lucas Corso

This is great, in this way the atlantist project of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline will be nearly useless!!!

Don't forget there are other projects planned that will make BTC useless. 1 is going from Romania to Trieste, there is also a projected going from Turkey to Hungary that avoids the Bosphorous strait (this one was recently announced and is meant to replace the stalled Nabucco project, there is talk of relocating it to Bulgaria and having the route extended to Austria), and in August it was reported that Russia was planning to pieplines that go through Serbia that would go to Italy. Not only that but Russia is also considering an extension of Blue stream going through Serbia and Croatia to Hungary also.

But the Nabucco project is more of a threat then BTC. Many say that BTC will not be proffitable due to potential attacks by Muslim militants, Armenians, Kurds and other anti-Turkish gropups.

[Franze]

This project is positive, I prefer giving my money to russians that the muslims, of course, I prefer.