Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 21 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
The project of extending the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to Plock and Gdansk in Poland does not move up, SOCAR deputy vice-president, board member of the International Pipeline Company "Sarmatia" Vitaliy Baylarbayov told media on Wednesday.
"Along with others, SOCAR together with Ukrainian enterprises invests annually in Sarmatia's activity, maintains it, promotes technical and economic study, hires the best contractors, but the project is not moving up," he added. "There is no movement, state support at the government level."
He said that the guarantees for oil supply are required from the company. However, the best guarantee is to buy oil and to conclude contracts for long-term purchase of oil.
Today, Azerbaijan has about 50 million tons of oil, which is also sold within long-term contracts.
He stressed that if SOCAR sells oil in the project of the Odessa-Brody-Plock-Gdansk pipeline, then the company will have no problem with some investments in constructing a missing part of the Ukrainian section of over 100-kilometer-oil pipeline.
He said that at present, the company is involved in the projects of the pipelines with a length of several thousands kilometers, so the company has no problems with participation in the Ukrainian oil pipeline.
Sarmatia was created by Ukrtransnafta and the Polish PERN Przyjazn company on July 12, 2004 to attract investments to design and complete the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to Plotsk.
Sarmatia shareholders are the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), the Georgian Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation Ltd. (GOGC), Ukrainian Ukrtransnafta, the Polish Przedsiebiorstwo Eksploatacji Rurociagow Naftowych Przyjazn SA and Lithuanian AB Klaipedos Nafta with equity participation of 24.75 percent of the major shareholders and one percent - a Lithuanian company.
He added that SOCAR has invested $130-140 million in Ukraine. Today the company owns more than 30 filling stations in Ukraine and plans to expand this number.