Azerbaijan, Baku, March 31 / corr Trend E.Ismayilov /
Caspian oil delivery to Belarus can ensure an exit to market of other countries, Sarmatia CEO Sergey Skripka told Trend over a telephone.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko instructed the first PM Vladimir Semashko to launch talks with Ukraine the country's joining to the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline. "Talks should be held with Ukraine in term of the Odessa-Brody," Lukashenko said in his televised speech. The head of state gave his relevant instructions to Semashko. Lukashenko underscored the necessity for maximal use of the pipeline transport, and "railway only in definite circumstances".
"Firstly, Belarus has consumers, incompletely operating oil transportation infrastructure, which could be used, while theoretically Belarus is an exit to other countries," Skripka said.
Caspian oil delivery to Belarus is an interesting project both from technical and economical viewpoint. "Though it is still to be studied, but remains to be interesting," Skprika underscored.
However, Sarmatia is not in talks with anyone in this regard, Skripka underscored.
Sarmatia was established on 12 July 2004 by Ukrtransneft and PERN to attract investments for projecting and the construction of the Odessa-Borda pipeline upto Plotsk.
Shareholders of Sarmatia include the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC), Ukrainian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Przedsiebiorstwo Eksploatacji Rurociagow Naftowych Przyjazn S.A. and Lithuanian Klaipedos Nafta with a stake of 24.75 percent belonging to each major participant and one percent to Lithuanian company.
The Odessa-Brody oil project plans to diversify oil supplies to Ukrainian refineries and transit facilities for the country's development. The construction of Odessa-Brody was completed in May 2002. The pipeline has a length of 674 kilometers and a diameter of 1,020 millimeters. The pipeline and the terminal's capacity are 9-14 million tons per year.
Azerbaijan plays a major role in the Odessa-Brody- Plotts-Gdansk. However, Azerbaijan can work as a transit country and supply not only its own oil via the pipeline, but also oil from Central Asia, for instance from Kazakhstan.
Work within the project is carried out by the Sarmatia international oil pipeline company, which was founded in 2004. Company participants are SOCAR, the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation, the Lithuanian Klaipedos Oil, the Polish PERN Pshiyazn and the Ukrainian Ukrtransnafta.