Russia, Bulgaria and Greece signed on Wednesday a preliminary agreement on the Burgas - Alexandroupolis pipeline project.

According to Andrey Dementiev, deputy minister of industry and energy of Russia, experts developed the text of the final tripartite agreement the parties are to sign later.

The new pipeline bypassing the Black Sea by the territory of Greece and Bulgaria is expected to decrease the stress on the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits.

Russia will hold 51% in the international company that will act as the owner of the pipeline. 24.5% will belong to Bulgaria and 23.5% to Greece.

The estimated cost of the 280-km long pipeline is 783 mn euros.

The capacity at the first stage will make 15 mn tons per annum to be increased to 24 mn tons at Stage 2 and 35 mn tons at Stage 3. There is also a possibility to increase the capacity to 50 mn tons per annum.