The Bulgarian Ministry for Environment and Water Resources has given a positive rating to the ecological effect of the Bulgarian section of the Burgas-Alexandropolis oil pipeline, Neft Rossii reports.
The Trans-Balkan Pipeline BV Consortium (operator of the project) may start consultations with municipalities where the pipeline will run.
Bulgaria declined evaluations of the environmental effect of the pipeline three times and has not been financing the project for months, it owes 7.5 million euro, according to June. Russia said in July that such approach was offensive and threatened to build the pipeline bypassing Bulgaria.
Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov said this summer that the state lacks finances for the project and plans to abandon the project.
The Burgas-Alexandropolis project will be 280 km long with a capacity of 35 million tons of oil annually. It may be increased to 50 million tons annually. The project is worth about $1-1.5 billion. Oil will belong to the Trans-Balkan Pipeline. The main goal is to reduce oil traffic through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Oil will come from Novorossiysk to Greek ports in the Black Sea in the Mediterranean Sea.
