February 16 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria and Greece on Thursday signed two memoranda of understanding (MoU) to look into possibilities for the construction of an oil pipeline across their border as well as to ensure the delivery and storage of natural gas, the press office of Bulgarian president Rumen Radev said.
The first agreement formalises the intention to explore options for building an oil pipeline connecting between the Bulgarian port of Burgas, on the Black Sea, and Greece's Aegean port of Alexandroupolis, the president's press office said in a statement after a meeting in Athens between Rumen Radev and Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The pipeline would provide alternative deliveries to the largest petroleum refinery in the Balkans, Burgas-based Lukoil Neftochim, which is processing Russian seaborne crude, and will diversify supply to the whole Black Sea region, Radev said.
The second MoU ensures access for Bulgaria to Greece's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and allows Greek natural gas suppliers to book capacity at Bulgaria's Chiren underground storage site. Greece has an existing LNG terminal at Revithoussa and is building a floating LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis, which is expected to be commissioned at the end of 2023. Bulgaria owns a 20% equity share in the terminal at Alexandroupolis and has booked storage capacity of 1 bcm per year.
The agreements are seen to bear importance for increasing the economic, transport and energy connectivity between Greece and Bulgaria as well as for guaranteeing the security of energy supply for the two countries and the wider region in the face of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Bulgaria's interim government approved the terms of the two MoUs last month.