26.12.2001, The Washington Times
A New Pipeline Bypassing Russia

The new Pivdenny marine terminal, put into operation last week, is expected to decrease the dependence of Ukraine on energy resources and strengthen its role as a transit point for oil supplied to the European market.

“This project has a great influence on our country and its policy”, - said Anatoly Kinakh, the Prime Minister, in his interview. “Ukraine is doing its best to decrease its dependence from (foreign) energy resources.”

The new terminal and pipeline, planned in 1992, is the first part of the project that allow Ukraine to process and transport about 100 million tons of oil per year from the CIS countries to Central and Western Europe.

The 306-mile pipeline, ending in Brody in the north-west of Ukraine, will join with another pipeline from Brody to Plock (Poland), where an important oil refinery is situated, and then to Gdansk, a Baltic Sea port, from which oil can be transported by tankers to Western markets.

The project also envisages oil transportation by the existing Druzhba Oil Pipeline, starting in Russia and going through Belarus and Poland.

The initial capacity of the new Black Sea terminal is 9 million tons of oil per year; its maximum annual capacity is 45 million tons.

One of the main advantages of the project is the fact that it allows oil exporters to avoid the overcrowded Bosporus, connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Moreover, it will become an alternative oil transportation route from the Caspian Sea basin. Though the explored oil reserves of the region are only a small part of the world reserves, in time the region will become a serious competitor for the Middle East.

Michael Bleyzer, President of SigmaBleyzer Investment Company (Houston), which provides consulting services to the Ukrainian government, said that the Odesa – Brody Pipeline is the only viable route bypassing the Bosporus. “It is the only one existing today, – he said. – It is a very viable pipeline”.

Natalia Feduschyak