Balkan pipeline talks on table

Bottleneck: the planned Balkan pipeline will bypass the congested Bosphorus strait

Talks to set up a company to own and operate a €950-million ($1.29 billion) trans-Balkan oil pipeline will begin next month in Moscow, the Bulgarian construction minister said today.

Russia, Bulgaria and Greece agreed last month to launch the construction of a 279-kilometre (173-miles) oil pipeline to carry Urals oil from Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis on the Aegean, bypassing the congested Bosphorous straits.

"We will launch talks in Moscow in the first half of May for the establishment of an international project company," Construction Minister Asen Gagauzov said after meeting his Greek counterpart Dimitris Siufas, Reuters reported.

Russian oil producers Rosneft and Gazprom Neft and crude oil pipeline monopoly Transneft will hold 51% in the project, while Greece…

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