From imagination to energy corridor
Presidents believe the Odesa — Brody — Plock — Gdansk oil pipeline project has good potential
Using the Odesa—Brody pipeline to transport oil to Poland and extending the pipeline to Plock are the subjects of regular discussions both between Poland and Ukraine and at energy summits. The recent Fourth Energy Summit in Baku was not an exception.
Now the pipeline is being used to pipe Russian oil from Brody to Odesa, because so far there is no one who would buy Azerbaijani oil. If this were the case, oil could transported in the opposite direction, i.e., to Poland.
President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine has already issued an edict ordering the pipeline to be used in this direction, but the government said in response: give us Azerbaijani oil. According to the president, the problem of the Odesa—Brody pipeline is merely a political problem which emerged after “the prime minister’s visit to a neighboring country in late summer.”
The head of the Ukrainian state stated in Baku that by the end of June 2009 Azerbaijan will be able to deliver the necessary volume of Caspian oil and that by that time Ukraine will have a prime minister capable of implementing the northern reversal of the Odesa—Brody pipeline. “I am convinced that by the end of the first six months [of 2009] we will have a government capable of carrying out a healthy policy that would comply with national interests,” Interfax quoted Yushchenko as saying.
Meanwhile, President Ilkham Aliev of Azerbaijan noted that the Odesa—Brody—Plock—Gdansk pipeline project has “good potential.” He said that Azerbaijan’s current yearly oil output is 50 million tons. Azerbaijan is ready to increase the output but needs to built new capacities to transport the oil. Speaking about gas output, Aliev stated that Azerbaijan has enough gas for a hundred years of domestic and foreign consumption.
While Azerbaijan exhibits earnest readiness to take part in the project, the same cannot be said about the other stakeholders. Yushchenko said that the conclusive feasibility study results for the Odesa—Brody—Plock pipeline project will be presented in December 2008. Among the improvements that he mentioned was the creation of the “Sarmatia” Joint Venture and the intergovernmental working group on the Caspian — Black Sea — Baltic Sea energy transit space-both the outcomes of the Kyiv Summit.
At the same time Ukraine’s president spoke about the need to protect the project from any political influence and create functional and international mechanisms for the practical realization of the projects.
He also noted the importance of holding the current energy summit in the Caucasian region, where military actions had taken place several months prior to the event. “We are showing the common political will and want to declare that the initiative of forming a realiable energy space from the Caspian and Black Seas to the Baltic Sea is not merely a fancy. We have a commitment to the countries of this region and provide our united support to them,” he said.
Ukraine’s president emphasized that it is important that the European Union and the US support the project to create a single energy transit space. “It is very important for us to broaden the circle of partners in this project with each summit,” Yushchenko said. In his opinion, the US political and business support needs to be clearly stated in order to realize the Odesa—Brody—Plock pipeline project.
In his turn, President Valdus Adamkus of Lithuania said that it would be appropriate to appoint a special EU mission to develop the Odesa—Brody—Plock project. He also expressed his hope that the Czhech Republic’s presidency in the EU will be conducive to this project.
