The shareholders of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline do not plan to close down the project and redirect the amount of oil planned for delivery through that pipeline to the ESPO-2, Transneft spokesman Igor Dyomin told Itar-Tass.

"The question of closing the project is not on the agenda. No one is going to pump this volume of oil into the ESPO-2,” he said.

According to Dyomin, a meeting of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis shareholders due in Rome on February 17, 2011 is to discuss the debts of Bulgaria and Greece under the project and consider the proposals for its further financing. Bulgaria's debt under the project stands at 7.3 million euros, and that of Greece, at 129 million euros.

Dyomin also said that the shareholders’ meeting plans to solve the problem of reducing to the minimum the staff of the operator company Trans Balkan-Pipeline project, minimize administrative costs, as well as transfer contractual relationships with contractors to a state that does not require regular payments.