A European Union embargo on Russian oil that takes effect on Monday has led Greece and Bulgaria to talk about reviving a long-defunct oil pipeline project that bypasses the Bosphorus Strait.
The pipeline would run 280km (about 174 miles) from the port of Alexandroupolis on the Aegean Sea to the port of Burgas on the Black Sea, and might continue as far north as the port of Constanza in Romania, Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Roman Hristov told Al Jazeera.
“We have a two-year derogation [from EU sanctions] to buy Russian oil, but after that, we will face problems because of the hike in transit fees through the Bosphorus,” Hristov said in answer to a question from Al Jazeera at an energy conference in Athens.
So, we have begun discussing the revival of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, and its extension north to the ports of Varna and Constanza,” he added.
“We support the project,” said Greek Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas in a statement. Neither minister agreed to answer further questions.
The EU move disrupts tanker trade from Russia’s oil export terminal at Novorossiysk on the Black Sea’s east coast to EU ports on its west coast.
Other suppliers
Refineries at Burgas and Constanza can still buy oil from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
A Kazakh oil pipeline ends at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) Terminal near Novorossiysk, and an Azeri oil pipeline terminates at Georgia’s Supsa further south.
But it is not enough to satisfy their needs, especially when Ukraine’s needs are taken into account.
The deficit is filled by additional volumes from other sources that are shipped into the Black Sea through the Bosphorus Strait.
The original Burgas-Alexandroupoli pipeline idea, first aired in 1993, was to flow south, exporting crude oil from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and beyond.
“The real problem was delays and bottlenecking at the strait. This is very easy to overcome with a pipeline,” said Mike Myrianthis, a Greek oil industry veteran who was involved in the project at the time.
“We wanted to be tied to a major producer for long-term supply … There was a very good relationship with Russia then,” he told Al Jazeera. “I remember we were talking about a second, parallel pipeline.”
In 2007, Greece, Bulgaria and Russia signed a political agreement to build the pipeline, with Russia promising to provide 35,000-50,000 tonnes of oil a year to fill it.
A 650,000-tonne…