Xenophon Paper 2 pdf - ICBSS

and four of them are with regional – Black Sea – significance. 4 According to a recent
decision of the BSEC, the Black Sea littoral states will be connected by a highway ring.
In terms of energy production, Bulgaria is a major exporter of electricity, generated in
the nuclear power plant of Kozloduy and several other power plants. Bulgaria also is a
transit country and operator of natural gas distribution from Russia further westwards.
Burgas hosts one of the largest oil refineries in the region. There are several pending
projects that will elevate further the country’s place in the Black Sea area as major East-
West corridor of energy transfers. In the electricity generation sector, the government
went on with the building of a second nuclear power plant ‘Belene’. In oil transit, two
projected pipelines are to cross Bulgaria in the future, one from north to south, the
Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline and the other from east to west, the AMBO oil-pipeline
running from the port of Burgas to Vlora in Albania. In the gas transit sector, another
two major projects are planned. The first one is the Nabucco project, 5 included in the
EU’s energy diversification plans, which is expected to transfer gas from Iran and the
Caspian to Central Europe. The second major initiative was announced just in the
beginning of May 2007 with no further details released, other than that it will be a major
project with Gazprom for multiplying the volumes of transited gas through manifold
increase in the capacity of the Black Sea’s transit and distribution system. 6
Bulgaria’s role and interdependence with the Black Sea is high and is continuing to
grow. That is why the country also has stakes in security – in the Black Sea itself and
in the adjacent area. Trade and energy issues demand that the context is even wider.
There is growing understanding of the significance of a security complex of three seas
– the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black and the Caspian Seas. The security concerns
of Bulgaria can thus be roughly prioritised in the following order. First of all, comes the
safety of the sea lanes for trade and energy deliveries in the above mentioned security
complex. Second, is the issue of energy security, which means safety and guaranteed
deliveries at an accessible price. Related to energy security is ensuring the security of
critical infrastructure, such as ports, airports, refineries, oil and pipelines. Third, is the
threat to security from organised crime as the Black Sea hosts the drug routes from
Afghanistan to Europe and the routes of the organised crime rings from the former
Soviet Union. The frozen conflicts are recognised as a major source of instability within
a given state or as a generator of inter-state tension. Separatist republics are zones out
4 For more information, please refer to the European Commission’s dedicated web-page,
http://ec.europa.eu/ten/transport/revision/revision_1692_96_en.htm.
5 More informational available on the Trans-European Energy Networks at http://ec.europa.eu
/ten/energy/documentation/index_en.htm.
6 According to information in Bulgarian and Russian media and the interview of Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov
available at http://www.darik.bg/view_article. php?article_id=142370.
40 UNFOLDING THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION VIEWS FROM THE REGION