Experts from the three countries meeting in Albania’s capital, Tirana, in May also discussed the project’s technical and financial aspects, according to a statement from Albania’s Ministry of Industry and Energy.
In December, 2004, the three countries approved the long-delayed project, pledging their governments’ support for the $1.2-billion pipeline. Around $900 million of the funding has now been secured from international banks, a statement said, and construction of the 913-km pipeline is expected to begin this year and last between three and four years. An environmentalist group staged a protest outside the Ministry of Industry, saying Albania’s main source of income should be tourism, not the pipeline.
The 143km of pipeline that will cross Albania from Qafe Thana in the east to Vlore in the west will bring the country about US$50-60 million annually in transit fees, in addition to the oil supply. The pipeline, linking Bulgaria’s Black Sea port of Burgas with the port of Vlore on the Adriatic Sea, will by-pass the busy Bosporus Strait in Turkey, and will ship a planned 750,000brl/d of, or 35 million tons/yr, from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, to the markets in Western Europe and North America.
Russia, Bulgaria, and Greece have signed an agreement for another 285-km oil pipeline between Burgas and Alexandroplis, but experts have said they are confident this will not threaten this project, as the Caspian region is expected to yield as much as 110 million tons/yr of oil from 2005.
