On 31 May, the Greek development minister, Dimitris Sioufas, said the Greek, Bulgarian, and Russian companies that will be responsible for building the pipeline would meet in Moscow imminently to discuss the establishment of an international construction consortium. Members of the consortium have not yet been officially announced, but in March representatives from TNK-BP Holding, Rosneft, and Gazprom's subsidiary Sibneft met with Greek officials in Athens to discuss the pipeline project. The 298-km long pipeline will transport Russian oil from Burgas, on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, to the port of Alexandroupolis, on Greece's Aegean coast. On 1 June, the Bulgarian government announced that it had created a state-controlled company to participate in the project, countering the effect of its withdrawal in May from a seven-company consortium that was to run the project, which had led to uncertainty about how it intended to proceed. The new company – Oil Pipeline Burgas-Alexandroupolis BG – is a joint venture between Universal Terminal Burgas AD and gas provider Bulgargas, both of which are state-controlled. The company will own at least 24.5% in the company that will be established to construct the pipeline, which is designed to ship 700,000brl/d of oil, by-passing the Bosporus Strait. In April 2005, Bulgaria, Greece, and Russia signed a $500-million agreement for the construction of the pipeline, funding for which is to be provided by companies interested in running and exploiting the pipeline, and not by the three governments.