Tirana, March 9 (AENews) – "AMBO has reached a stage in its development where it is timely to start
the work of determining the route of the pipeline in a more detailed
and defined way than has been done to date," a press release by AMBO president Ted Ferguson said.

"This is perfectly normal for such a development; the three ‘Host Countries’ have all confirmed their support for the Project and are currently agreeing on the terms and conditions of the ‘Tripartite Convention’ which will set the common conditions under which contracts between the Countries and the Developers can be signed."

"An essential part of the process of defining the pipeline route or ‘Right of Way’, is an ‘Environmental and Social Impact Assessment’.  Without this Assessment, none of the Host Countries will be in a position to agree with the Developers on the final pipeline route.  It is AMBO’s responsibility, along with its’ experts to carry out this Assessment to the satisfaction of not only the Host Countries but also the International Financial Institutions who will make the necessary loans required for this Development."

"Much is being made of the Albanian Government’s request to AMBO to look for possible alternative locations for the Oil Terminal currently planned for Vlore.  Let me make it quite clear that requests of this nature are not at all unusual at this stage of any Development. "

"AMBO has already examined and indeed made changes to the pipeline route in both Macedonia and Bulgaria.  AMBO has agreed to look for alternative locations of the Terminal and will do this work as part of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.  AMBO will also conduct the same Assessment on Vlore; in that way, the Government and the people of Vlore and other locations can make a better and more informed judgement on the final location of the Terminal.  I do not personally know the Albanian coastline in detail and therefore cannot say whether a better alternative can be found. What I can say is that Vlore is an ideal location for the safe operation of such a Terminal."

"With today’s technology, operations of this nature are quite different to those of the past. Storage tanks are designed to be unobtrusive and to blend into the surrounding landscape. The tankers themselves are loaded offshore through a ‘state of the art’ loading buoy which ensures that no spillage of any kind occurs.  In the unlikely event that a catastrophe does happen, the maximum spill is designed to be limited to one tonne of liquid and even that one tonne will be contained and collected before it can spread."

"Visual impact of the whole installation will be designed to have the minimum of intrusion on any of the hotels and holiday infrastructure at the southern end of Vlore Bay.  Indeed from the beach itself it will be very difficult to even see the tankers entering the Bay. There are many examples of such installations in large popular tourist areas in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea regions which have existed for decades and knowledge of this fact should give comfort both to the Government and the people of Vlore region." /End/

AMBO Press Statement by Mr. Ted Ferguson, AMBO President
9 March 2006

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