Russia, Bulgaria, Greece in $1.3B oil deal

ATHENS, Greece, March 15 (UPI) -- Russia, Bulgaria and Greece signed a deal Thursday to build a $1.3 billion pipeline to transport Russian oil through Balkan countries to a northern Greek port.

The 175-mile Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline will carry 700,000 barrels of oil a day to Greece's Alexandroupolis Aegean Sea port city and have the capacity of handling 1 million barrels a day, the Russian news agency Novosti reported.

The oil will then be shipped to other parts of Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Russian firms will control 51 percent of the venture. European Union members Bulgaria and Greece will each have 24.5 percent.

Putin, who had threatened to cancel the project unless economic disputes were quickly resolved, signed the deal with Prime Ministers Costas Karamanlis of Greece and Sergei Stanishev of Bulgaria.

The deal comes amid growing European concerns about dependence on Russia for oil and natural gas. Russia supplies about 30 percent of Europe's oil and 40 percent of its natural gas.

Putin said the pipeline, conceived in 1993, would be environmentally responsible.

"Environmental organizations will be satisfied and we will meet all their demands," he said. "We will even change the pipeline's route, if necessary."