Nikolai Seryogin, a member of the supervisory board of the Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline project company, said the price increase was due to growth in the prices of steel and pipe fittings, adding that a final costing would be made after an adjusted feasibility study for the project has been conducted.
Mr Seryogin said construction of the pipeline, expected to take from eight to 12 months, would begin in 2009. Under the inter-governmental agreement signed in 2007, Russia holds a 51% share in the project company, while Greece and Bulgaria hold 24.5% each.