ATHENS, March 15: A Russian delegation led by President Vladimir Putin signed on Thursday a long-delayed agreement with Greece and Bulgaria to build $900 million pipeline carrying Russian oil from the Black Sea to the Aegean.

Signed with Putin and the prime ministers of Greece and Bulgaria present, the agreement, worth 682 million euros, brings to an end 14 years of talks on building the 280-kilometre-long pipeline between the Bulgarian port of Burgas and the port of Alexandroupolis in Greece.

“The step we make today is dictated not only by the interests of our two countries, but by those of the global economy,” said Putin, who was closely involved in launching the project.

“It is an important contribution to global energy development (permitting) a diversification in the routes of transport,” he said.

Work on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is expected to begin next year.

Once completed, it will be able to transport between 35 million and 50 million tons of Russian oil from the Caspian Sea per year.

Putin had closely followed the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project, flying to Athens in September to jumpstart negotiations.

When a deal did not materialise in late 2006 the Russian leader again stepped in, publicly warning that Russia would find other export markets for its oil if Bulgaria and Greece did not speed up preparations.

The text of the agreement was endorsed shortly afterwards in February.

Talks had dragged on since 1993, owing mainly to Russian doubts on whether the pipeline made economic sense.

The negotiations were also held up by haggling over each country's share in the pipeline, with Russia insisting that its companies be given a majority stake.

But soaring oil prices and the inauguration in July of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, linking the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean while bypassing Russia, prompted Bulgaria, Greece and Russia to speed up the signing of the deal.

A Russian consortium of the Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom energy companies will hold a 51 per cent stake in the pipeline.

Greek and Bulgarian companies will split the remaining 49 per cent.

Russian oil will be transported by tankers to the Black Sea Bulgarian port of Burgas, and the new pipeline will bring it to the Greek Aegean Sea port of Alexandroupolis.

Tankers currently make the entire trip via the Bosphorus Straits, but traffic along the narrow waterway has intensified in recent years, raising congestion concerns.

In addition, tanker accidents often endanger the environment and the safety of residential quarters on the banks of the Straits.

Between 1996 and 2006, the volume of crude oil and derivatives transported through the Straits jumped from about 70 million tons to 143 million tons, according to Greek development ministry general secretary Nikos Stefanou.

“The pipeline is supplementary, it does not replace the Straits,” Stefanou told NET state television. “The Straits will continue to be the main route of oil to the West.” —AFP