Thursday, 1 October 2009
A candidate to the post of the Greek prime minister and the head of opposition party said on Thursday he would seek better terms for the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project.
Burgas-Alexandroupolis is a project between Russia, Greece and Bulgaria to pump Russian and Caspian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupolis. The three countries signed an agreement to build the 280-km Trans-Balkan pipeline in 2007 following several years of talks.
George Papandreou, who heads the Greek opposition Party PASOK (Panhellenic Socialist Movement), reiterated his support for the project at a news conference in Athens.
"We started this project, we would complete it, but on better terms, primarily those concerning environmental protection," he said.
Early parliamentary elections will be held in Greece on October 4. PASOK is currently leading the opinion polls, leaving the ruling New Democracy Party led by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis slightly behind.
In recent months, Bulgaria said it could review the deal. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, elected in June, said his country needed time to decide whether it should participate in the project.
"We would do the same, because it is in our interests," Papandreou said.
Borisov said at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in early September that two local referendums should be held on the environmental security of coastal areas.
Once completed, the pipeline will pump 35 million metric tons of oil a year (257 million bbl), a volume that could eventually be increased to 50 million metric tons (368 million bbl). Under an inter-governmental agreement signed in 2007, Russia holds 51% in the project company, while Greece and Bulgaria hold 24.5% each.
