Balkan Countries Sign Pipeline Deal

Bulgaria, Albania, and Macedonia sealed an agreement on the construction of a regional oil pipeline last week in Skopje, the Southeast Europen Times reports today.
The project will be run by the U.S.-based company AMBO, and a tender to select a contractor for the facility's construction will soon be announced.
Albanian economy minister Genc Ruli, Bulgarian minister for regional development Asen Gagauzov and Macedonian economy minister Vera Rafajlovska signed the agreement, agencies report.
"We expect the construction to begin by late 2008, and to see first oil shipments flowing through the pipeline by the end of 2010 or early 2011", AMBO president Ted Ferguson said at a press conference in Skopje.
The 912km pipeline, connecting the Bulgarian port of Bourgas with Albania's Vlora port, via Macedonia, will carry Caspian oil from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, with an expected annual capacity of 35m tonnes.