Alexander Tarakanov, chief executive director of the international project company Trans Balkan Pipeline in an interview with FOCUS News Agency about the influence of economy crisis over realization of Burgas-Alexandroupolis gas pipeline project, its significance and stages it will pass through in 2009.


FOCUS: Mr. Tarakanov, you are operator of the construction project of Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline. What other projects had you implemented before?
Alexander Tarakanov: I joint the project from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). This is the only independent pipeline in eth Russian Federation, which trace starts from Caspian region and reaches the Black Sea. It is about 1500km long as we speak about oil that comes from the Caspian region and Russia to the Black Sea and after that reaches the international market. Actually, it is very likely that pipeline to be connected with our new project because one of the oil suppliers for Burgas-Alexandroupolis would be the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

FOCUS: Why Burgas-Alexandroupolis project is crucial for the three states – Bulgaria, Russia and Greece?
Alexander Tarakanov: There are economy and political point of view of that issue but I prefer to put aside politics and to talk about economy. The situation at the moment is that Black Sea is overburdened with oil and everyone should know that. That is due to the fact that there is only one direction in the Black Sea – the Bosporus. That natural pipeline has its restrictions – technical, economy, meteorological etc. and in that reason we could think about another alternative. In my opinion one of the most interesting variants is Burgas-Alexandroupolis gas pipeline project – in relation to economy and territorial position as well.
Of course there are other options as well. There is a Turkish variant; there are some “longer” variants to Italy, another through Constanţa but in my opinion and many other experts’ opinion the Burgas-Alexandroupolis variant is the most real alternative.
In my opinion that project is absolutely expedient and economy warrantable in view of the fact that the Black Sea played big enough role in the energy economy of Europe and neighboring states. At the moment we are occupied with technical, judicial, tariff and financial parts of the project. Our shareholders have already taken the final decision for the implementation of the project.

FOCUS: How does the work go and what are the most important stages in 2009?
Alexander Tarakanov: This year technical documents have to be prepared so that we can go to the next designing stage in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project. These are all technical documents concerning the maritime terminals and everything else that concerns the technical side of the project. After that the financial side of the project comes – a financial plan, tariff plan, environmental impact assessment
We will not manage to do everything this year because it is a long stage and requires a lot of work. Most of the work will be done this year and we plan to go to the next stage at the end of 2009, provided that the shareholders give their approval.

FOCUS: How does the world crisis have effect over realization of the project?
Alexander Tarakanov: The issue is under constant discussion and I would like to tell you that I am optimistic about it. What does the crisis give to our project? It decreases the prices of materials and services. As to the banks, it is understandable that now everyone eyes carefully the financing of any project. But financing of our project is not due today. We will go to a bank at the end of this year or the beginning of the next one. I think the peak of the crisis will most probably subside by then. Banks will need serious projects with low risk and, roughly speaking, they will be hungry for projects of this type. We will start dealing the financing issue when banks will show great interest. I think the crisis will have positive, rather than negative effect on the project.

FOCUS: What guarantees could you give for the environmental security of Black Sea?
Alexander Tarakanov: Environmental issues are a top concern for the international project company, which is an operator of the construction project of Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.
It is not accidental that we attracted one of the leading companies to our environment campaign. I am absolutely sure that everything necessary will be done to ensure that the project is the safest and most environmentally-friendly one. The project is not a 100% green project. Each technological project contains some technical problems. But I think we can prepare everything in a way that will enable us to minimize the risks.