Company news in June 2004 | |||
Russo-British TNK-BP Confirming Its Interest in Reversing the Odessa/Brody Oil Pipeline
The Russo-British TNK-BP is still interested in reversing the Ukrainian Odessa/Brody oil pipeline for Russian crude oil supplies, Vice President of the company Alexander Gorodetskiy told to reporters. "We confirm our willingness and readiness to work in this direction," Mr. Gorodetsky said commenting on information published in mass media concerning the reversing of the oil pipeline. In his opinion, a big question is still hanging over direct use of the oil pipeline, and TNK-BP is willing to resume negotiations with the Ukrainian Government concerning the reverse. "We really see that the direct use of the oil pipeline is not being implemented, so if the Cabinet is willing to resume these negotiations, we are absolutely open and will support and promote this decision in every possible way," Mr. Gorodetskiy said. He did not rule it out that the reverse use of the Odessa/Brody pipeline would help stabilize the situation surrounding the Ukrainian refined product market. "We they [reverse of the pipeline and the market environment] are not directly linked, but indirectly they are," Mr. Gorodetskiy said. According to a well-informed source, the Ukrainian Government is eyeing the possibility of reversing the Odessa/Brody pipeline for one or three years in order, inter alia, to stabilize the situation in the fuel market, prices at which have grown by more than 50% since the start of the year. The Ukrainian Government declined reversing of the oil pipeline to Russian petroleum companies, which offered to pump 9 million tons of oil from Brody to Odessa annually, on February 4, 2004. Reverse of the oil pipeline might yield some $90 million of income to Ukraine annually. The idea was to further supply crude oil trough the Yuzhny oil terminal across the Black Sea to Europe. Earlier, the government announced its plans to start supplies of Caspian oil along the Odessa/Brody pipeline in May/June this year. However, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan do not indent to supply Caspian oil for the oil pipeline yet. The first stage of the Odessa/Brody oil transportation system was commissioned in May 2002. Its throughput is 9-14.5 million tons of oil a year, with a tank park of 200,000 cubic meters.
Source: PRIME TASS