Radio Bulgaria

The financial obligations of Bulgaria, related to the state’s participation in the building of the Burgas-Alexandrupolis come up to around EUR 6 mln. However, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov said at the end of 2009 that there was no money at that moment, but the country would pay its dues as soon as possible. Just a few days ago the government approved the vice-president and financial minister Simeon Dyankov to become manager of the project. He will be in charge of its entire coordination, supervision and financing. “The main reason for this is a consolidation of the Bulgarian position, since he has been in different structures during the different stages of the project”. This was how the Minister of Regional Development Rossen Plevneliev defended the decision.

We remind that the International Project Company “Trans-Balkan Pipeline” was created for the implementation of the Burgas-Alexandrupolis pipeline. Bulgaria and Greece own 24.5% of the shares, while Russia is the owner of the majority with 51%. Experts say that the building of the pipeline will cost EUR 1.5 bln. Some 35 mln. tones of petrol will be transported annually along the pipeline from the Russian port of Novorossiysk, via Bulgarian territory through the coastal town of Burgas, to the Greek port of Alexandrupolis. Bulgaria’s profit is expected to be USD 35 mln. per year, or a dollar per tone. The construction of the pipeline is to begin in 2011, and it should become operative in 2013.

The building of the pipeline that will relieve the heavy trafficking through the Bosphorus Strait was the most disputable of the three energy projects between Sofia and Moscow. Bulgaria is trying to increase its possible benefits from the project and one of the ideas was Bulgarian companies to take part in the oil transportation. This was what Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traicho Traikov said not so long ago, thus showing doubtlessly that Bulgaria was not satisfied with the contracted fees for the oil transportation through its territory. There is also another problem:

“The government again made it clear that it wouldn’t be able to state its position on the project before a detailed assessment on the environmental impact was made – Minister of Regional Development Rossen Plevneliev declared. – The executive firm hasn’t presented any documentation on the project yet. When we see those documents we will follow the procedure and will do anything necessary to make our statement. The main condition is a qualitative international audit to prove the lack of a compromise, as far as the environmental impact is concerned.”

Mr. Alexander Tarakanov, head of the International Project Company “Trans-Balkan Pipeline” said that the environmental impact assessment should be presented to the ecology ministry in March 2010. It will become clear by June whether the project will be put through or not. He also promised the most adequate environmental measures to be taken. “If the ecology assessment is negative, Bulgaria has the sovereign right to reject the project, but we do our best to develop it in the most appropriate way” the Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko said.

Meanwhile Moscow thinks over its participation in the Samsun Ceyhan project, which is an alternative to Burgas-Alexandrupolis. It will be built on Turkish territory by Italian and Turkish energy companies. Russian experts say that Bulgaria has postponed with six months its decision on the Burgas-Alexandrupolis pipeline project in order to save time for new negotiations with its Russian partners on the conditions for cooperation. However, the situation suits Moscow too, since the quantities of petrol that has to be transported are not guaranteed. At the same time the chances of the optional Turkish project have not been surveyed yet. The Russian energy minister accepts “both pipelines as equal ones”, which demonstrates the ambitions of his country to control the oil transport in the Caspian and Black sea regions.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev