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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Memorandum on building pan–European oil pipeline to be signed

Belgrade, 6 September 2006

Serbian Assistant Minister of Energy and Mining Slobodan Sokolovic said today that a memorandum of understanding on the construction of the pan-European oil pipeline between countries, through which the pipeline will be built–Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, should be signed in October.

In a statement to the news agency Tanjug, Sokolovic said that the memorandum should have been signed in March this year, but problems arose because Slovenia did not want to sign it, presenting ecological concerns as the reason. However, he added, even if Slovenia withdraws completely, there are technical possibilities for constructing a branch towards Italy.

He explained that the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project is not in conflict with the pan-European oil pipeline from Constanta to Trieste, rather these two projects are compatible. He pointed out that it is necessary to have pipelines in both directions so that large amounts of crude oil can be transported from the Black Sea harbours to the international market.

According to Sokolovic, the two pipelines have different markets, the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis market is the Mediterranean and the US, while the main market for the pan-European oil pipeline is central Europe.

Sokolovic specified that the capacity of the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline is 35 million tonnes of crude oil, and the pan-European can transport 60 million tonnes, while the Black Sea harbours can handle some 150 million tonnes of crude oil.