December 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria and Greece have begun discussions on the potential revival of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project along with its possible extension north to the ports of Varna in Bulgaria and Contanta in Romania, news outlet Al Jazeera quoted Bulgarian caretaker energy minister Rosen Hristov as saying.
Bulgaria is looking beyond the expiry of an EU derogation, which allows it to import Russian crude oil by sea until end-2024, considering ways to avoid high fees for transit through the Bosphorus strait, Al Jazeera cited Hristov as saying.
According to the report, Greek energy minister Kostas Skrekas indicated support for the project, but the two ministers stopped short of providing any further details.
In 2007, Russia, Bulgaria and Greece signed an agreement on the construction of a 258-kilometre pipeline to carry Russian and Caspian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupolis and further to the Mediterranean.
The project, which at the time was estimated to cost around 1 billion euro ($1.05 billion), was suspended in 2011 after the Bulgarian authorities expressed environmental concerns over the scheme.
An EU-wide ban on the import or transfer of seaborne crude oil and petroleum products from Russia entered into force on December 5, as part of sanctions imposed in the wake of the war on Ukraine.
Bulgaria, which has an oil refinery owned by the European arm of Russia's Lukoil, has negotiated an exemption from that ban until the end of 2024.
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