Well there is according to Bankers Petroleum Ltd, a Canadian oil company who recently announced they had acquired the exclusive right to evaluate and redevelop the Kuçova heavy oil field in Albania.

Bankers Petroleum Ltd is pleased to announce that it has elected to exercise its option to acquire the remaining 50% interest in the Kuçova oil field, through the acquisition of the remaining issued and outstanding securities of Sherwood International Petroleum Ltd. The final closing was completed for a payment of $1.5 million.

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Back in April we reported that despite an invitation there was quite a way to go before Albania could join NATO. Yesterday Albania took one significant step closer to that goal when the ambassadors for the 24 member states signed accession protocols for both Albania and Croatia to join NATO.

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Colliers International were the first of the ‘big boys’ in the commercial and retail property field to establish a permanent bridgehead in the Albanian capital when they officially launched their office on the 22nd May this year.

But this was not a sudden assault on the commercial and retail markets in Albania ‘Iwo Jima’ style as Colliers have actually been operating in Albania on selected assignments since 2006.

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NATO formerly extended an invitation to Albania earlier this month to join the military club. However they are not quite there just yet and there is a whole load of work still to do before Albania is accepted as a fully paid up member.

Clearly joining NATO is a priority for the Albanian Government as it is a pre-requisite to becoming a fully fledged member of that other club the ‘European Union’. Membership of the EU promises to inject serious funds into the Albanian economy to help with its development and to bridge the gap caused by years of decay under the previous communist rulers.

Just before the decision was made at the Bucharest Summit earlier this month, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said:
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Albania featured for the first time in ‘A Place in the Sun’ show aired in the UK earlier tonight on Channel 4.

In the Third episode of the ‘Place in the Sun Hotspots’, Amanda Lamb takes a tour of Eastern Europe sussing out the prospects in the property markets of Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Poland and Albania. She visits Tirana and Saranda in the show and gives her opinion on buying property in Albania, Europes newest property hotspot.

So what did she have to say about Albania and its emerging property market?

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Unfortunately not all news about Albania is good news and events over the weekend have clearly demonstrated this.

On Saturday 15th March a munitions depot 10km from Tirana exploded shooting a huge ball of fire 50 metres into the air. The force of the blast smashed windows at Mother Teresa International Airport and totally destroyed nearby houses. The tragic news is that several people have been killed and hundreds more injured with serious burns and cuts from flying shrapnel.

The following Television news footage showed the extent of the devastation with houses having been destroyed and trees decimated by the impact of the blast:

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The first leg of our February trip to Albania saw us drive from the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria to the Macedonian town of Struga at the northern end of Lake Ohrid.

Having spent the night in Struga we rose nice and early and had a hearty Macedonian breakfast before making our way to the Albania border crossing point some 20km to the south west. (more…)

I had an interesting conversation earlier this week with a friend of ours who markets Albanian property and who like us had recently driven by car from Bulgaria to Albania.

As I was telling him how one of the Albanian border guards had insisted on charging us €5 for what can best be described as ‘Coffee Tax’ he casually slipped into the conversation that on his trip to Albania he had been detained at the border for 24 hours!

Now being detained for 24 hours does not strike me as being a whole lot of fun so here is how to avoid the same fate:

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Earlier this month members of the zone (the writer included) made a quick sortie to Albania to see for themselves what the country had to offer the International property investor.

Over the course of the next few weeks through a series of related blog posts we will retrace that journey and share the knowledge and experiences we gained from the trip . But just to wet your appetite here is a quick teaser of what is in store:

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Kosovo where 90% of the population is ethnic Albanian declared its independence from Serbia on Sunday 17th February 2008. The declaration had been widely expected and represents the final dissolution of the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told the parliament “We have waited for this day for a very long time,” before he read the text of the declaration and paid tribute to those who had died on the road to independence.

Tens of thousands of people waving the Albanian flag had thronged the streets of Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, since the morning in anticipation of the declaration being accepted by the Kosovan parliament. On receiving the news the city centre erupted in celebration with fireworks, firecrackers and gunfire. (more…)