E.C. to approve Black Sea oil pipeline

ZAGREB, Croatia— The European Commission is endorsing construction of a Black Sea oil pipeline that it says will significantly reduce tanker accidents.

E.C. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, in Zagreb, Croatia, for an energy conference on April 3, signed a ministerial declaration on the next steps required to build the so-called Pan-European Oil Pipeline that would transport oil from the Black Sea to central European markets, thereby reducing tanker traffic in the Bosphurus Straits, the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas.

The pipeline will "signficantly reduce the chances of a serious accident" in those waterways, the E.C. said in a statement.

The proposed pipeline would link the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania to oil facilities in Trieste, Italy. It would connect to pipelines there that run to Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic.