Greece and Bulgaria turned down Russia’s new demand concerning the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project.

Russia demanded that both countries sell their shares in the pipeline, Greek newspaper Express said, referring to a Bulgarian company representative participating in the project, as quoted by Bulgarian National Radio.

According to the newspaper, Russia had stated its demand at a recent meeting in Athens. At the meeting, Russia said that it wanted Bulgaria and Greece to guarantee oil deliveries that corresponded to their share participation in the project.

Greece and Bulgaria were unable to provide such quantities of crude oil, and if they accepted the Russian proposal, they would have had to sell their shares in the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, Greek website innews.gr said.

If the two countries fail to provide the desired quantity of oil, they will find themselves in a difficult situation and will make it possible for foreign companies or Kazakh purchase of their shares, which is obviously Russia’s will, the website said.

Russia probably was not be able to provide enough oil to fill the pipeline’s capacity, which is 35 million tons a year, the website said.