The signing ceremony in February came not long after President Putin said that unless the project saw headway in the near future, Russia will look to alternative means to move its oil to Europe. The pipeline planned across Bulgaria and Greece has been at a preliminary stage for over 14 years, but now its construction, worth $900 million, will finally begin in 2008. Bulgaria's original request was to keep the Burgas oil terminal in local ownership to make it available as a cargo point for alternative resources such as oil moved via the Burgas-Vlore pipeline. Russia, however, has insisted that it gets a controlling interest both in the Burgas and Alexandroupolis terminals. The newly-signed protocol foresees that the International Project Co (IPC), in which the Russia-owned Burgas-Alexandroupolis Pipeline Consortium (B-APC - set up on 18 January) owns of a 51% share, is entitled to a stake in the two companies. B-APC is owned by Transneft with a 33.34% share, and Rosneft and Gazprom, each with 33.33% shares. The Russian interest in IPC will be represented B-APC; Bulgaria will be represented by Universal Terminal Burgas and Bulgartransgaz, while Greece's interests will be looked after by Hellenic Petroleum, Thraki, and the Greek state. Both Bulgaria and Greece have 24.5% shares in the IPC. It is understood that Bulgartransgaz will manage the pipeline on Bulgarian territory, and Hellenic Petroleum will manage the line in Greece. Transneft will act as "transmission coordinator" of the entire pipeline, who's throughput will be between 35 and 50m tons/yr. The construction of the 280-km long pipeline is estimated to cost $1.12 billion; the Greek government is expected to grant $144 million, and the rest will be provided by shareholders and through borrowing. The capacity of the pipeline will be 15m tons/yr at the first stage of the project, 24m/yr at the second stage and 35m/yr tons at the third stage, increasing to 50m tons/yr. The pipeline will be an alternative route for oil from Russia and other countries of the Caspian region to reach Europe, by-passing the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.