Last week Russian news agency Interfax reported that three Russian companies, Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, would receive 51 per cent of the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline construction project.

Bulgaria and Greece were still to negotiate for the other 49 per cent of the shares, according to Interfax.

Other Russian media ran similar reports, saying that Russia and Greece negotiated during the meeting between Russian prime minister Mihail Fradkov and his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis.

Karamanlis and Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister Roumen Ovcharov rejected the reports, mediapool.bg said. The three countries had no agreement on the matter, they said.
 
Ovcharov told mediapool.bg that the three countries would discuss each country’s share in the project during the next trilateral meeting in October or November 2006.