Ukraine says it can move quickly on pipeline linking Poland to Black Sea

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Ukraine is ready to move quickly on extending an oil pipeline from the Black Sea into the European Union if Poland and other countries sign up to the project, which could help ease the EU's dependence on Russian imports, officials said Monday.

Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev said during a visit to Brussels that "whatever is necessary on our side can be done in three months."

"But we have to receive precise signals from our partners that they are ready to proceed with us," he told reporters in Brussels, where he was holding talks with EU officials.

The prime ministers of Ukraine and Poland agreed in November that the pipeline running through Ukraine from the Black Sea port of Odessa to the northwestern city of Brody should be extended some 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the Polish city of Plock.

With such an extension, oil from Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan could be shipped across the Black Sea to Odessa, and then carried by pipeline through Poland to Western Europe, bypassing Russia. From Plock, the pipeline could be connected to an existing network, carrying oil to the Baltic Sea port of Gdansk.
But plans have been bogged down in details. Klyuyev complained of delays in forming an international consortium to build the pipeline, and said the Poles had yet to move forward on allocating land for the extension.

The pipeline, built in 2001, has long been the subject of geopolitical jostling in the former Soviet Union. It remained largely idle amid political bickering over its use until 2004, when the pro-Russian president of Ukraine at the time, Leonid Kuchma, opened it for oil flows in the opposite direction from what originally was planned — taking Russian oil southward to the Black Sea for export.

The following year, Ukraine's current, pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko decided to revert to the original plan for moving shipments from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan north and west from the Black Sea port.

Klyuyev, in Brussels, held talks with EU officials on financing for developing energy and transport networks in Ukraine. He also stressed his country's potential as a producer of environment-friendly fuels made from plant crops.

Klyuyev said Ukraine had launched two projects that could produce 260,000 tons of ethanol a year, and added that the government was considering tax advantages to help boost the development of the alternative fuel.

"Ukraine has enormous agricultural potential, we have very fertile soil, thick soil in abundance," he said. However, "we will need at least two or two-and-a-half years to obtain practical results."
Source:iht.com