Bulgaria wants out of pipeline deal with Greece / Russia

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/greek-russian-committee-to-discuss-oil-pipeline-plan-in-athens.html

When Bulgaria thinks you can’t be trusted, that’s saying a lot.

In 2007, there was an agreement to build an oil pipeline connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterrean, bypassing the “busy” Bosporus Straits which historically was the dividing point between the European Byzantine Christian empire and the growing Islamic Ottomon Empire, until the Byzantines lost in 1453.

It isn’t a huge mystery why Russia would want a way to export its oil not relying on Turkey – a member of NATO and generally friendly toward the United States./

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45580345/ns/business-oil_and_energy/t/bulgaria-scraps-oil-pipeline-russia-greece/#.TuLIolaT6uI

A logical inference is that with Greek looking around for government assets to sell, the Greek ownership of a portion of the Trans Balkan pipeline is an obvious thing to sell to a different party.

The oil from Kazakhstan now has a pipeline to get it out of the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea – but still has to pass through Turkey to get to Europe and beyond.