Bulgaria will submit a scheme of financing its share in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project after a positive ecological expertise, Russia’s Minister of Power Engineering Sergei Shmatko told journalists on Saturday.

“Bulgaria decided to vest its ministry of finance with management of this project,” he said commenting on the results of his working visit to Bulgaria. “It means that after a positive ecological expertise, Bulgaria is set to present a relevant financing scheme for its share of the project.”

Russia, Greece and Bulgaria signed an agreement to build the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline on March 15, 2007. Russia had been lobbying this project for 13 years as the shortest and most acceptable way to transport oil bypassing Black Sea straits.

Apart from it, Russia links implementation of this project with possible expansion of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which operates the Tehgiz (Kazakhstan) – Novorossiisk oil pipeline.