Balkan pipeline Sofia, April 12, SPA -- Bulgaria, Greece and Russia signed a ¤522 million (US$677 million) agreement Tuesday for the construction of a trans-Balkan pipeline that will bypass Turkey's busy Bosporus strait . Under the long-delayed deal, a 285-kilometer (177-mile) pipeline will link Bulgaria's port of Burgas to Greece's Alexandroupolis on the Aegean Sea. Russia exports about a third of its oil production through the Black Sea and the pipeline will allow it to bypass the Bosporus in Turkey, minimizing delays.