Greece and Bulgaria negotiating Balkan oil pipeline

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Greece and Bulgaria will consider reviving the project for a pipeline to transport crude oil from the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupolis to the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated.

Bulgaria had sought the construction of a 300 km trans-Balkan oil pipeline to secure non-Russian crude oil supplies for its only oil refinery on the Black Sea, Reuters reports.

After meeting with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev in Athens, Mitsotakis said the pipeline would offer Bulgaria alternative supply sources and a "safer, faster and cheaper" way to transport fuel, with tankers bypassing the now congested Bosphorus Strait.

Since Moscow cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria after the war in Ukraine, Greece has offered gas via its only LNG terminal in Revithoussa, west of Athens.

The two countries also agreed that Greek energy producers would be able to store gas in Bulgaria, while Bulgarian companies could use Revithoussa, Mitsotakis said.

"Both countries will have secured access to key infrastructure for their energy security," he said.

Greece wants to become a key European transit route for gas traveling to the Balkan region through the Mediterranean Sea and further north, thanks to new gas infrastructure under development. Last year, Athens increased its liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, mainly from the United States and Egypt.

Gas network operator DESFA plans to spend around one billion euros on expanding the network's capacity by 2032, allowing Greece to nearly quadruple its gas export capacity to neighboring countries.