MOSCOW, May 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's upper house of parliament ratified a March 15 deal with Greece and Bulgaria Friday to build a pipeline across the Balkan states to supply oil further to Europe, the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region.
"The document outlines guidelines for the countries' cooperation in building and maintaining the oil pipeline, whose initial capacity was set at 35 million metric tons of oil a year (257 million bbl) and could eventually be increased to 50 million metric tons (367 million bbl)," Iyas Umakhanov, a senior member of the Federation Council said.
Umakhanov said Greece had already ratified the agreement, and Bulgaria was expected to ratify it May 29.
The 280-kilometer (175-mile) Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline will carry Russian oil via the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas and Greece's Alexandroupolis on the Aegean. Earlier reports said the pipeline could be commissioned in late 2010 or early 2011.
