Odessa-Brody-Plock Oil Pipeline
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Odessa-Brody-Plock Oil Pipeline, (also known as Sarmatia pipeline) is a crude oil pipeline between the Ukrainian cities Odessa at the Black Sea, and Brody near the Ukrainian-Polish border. The pipeline is operated by UkrTransNafta, Ukraine's state-owned oil pipeline company.
Contents
Location
The pipeline originates in Odessa, Ukraine and terminates in to Gdańsk, Poland.
Project Details
- Operator: UkrTransNafta, PERN SA, Georgian Oil & Gas Corporation (GOGC), SOCAR, Klaipedos Nafta
- Current capacity: 70,000 barrels per day
- Length:
- Status: Operating
- Start Year: 2002
Background
The Odessa–Brody pipeline (also known as Sarmatia pipeline) is a crude oil pipeline between the Ukrainian cities Odessa at the Black Sea, and Brody near the Ukrainian-Polish border. An expansion of the pipeline to Płock, and then to Gdańsk in Poland was planned, but subsequently put on hold. The pipeline is operated by UkrTransNafta, Ukraine's state-owned oil pipeline company.
History
The usage and direction of Odessa–Brody pipeline is considered to be of considerable geopolitical significance and has thus been the subject of both political disagreement and international pressure. The pipeline was originally intended to reach Gdańsk in order to transfer oil from the Caspian Sea (mainly from Kazakhstan) to the Polish Baltic Sea port and from there to the rest of Europe. The Pivdenny maritime terminal in Odessa and the pipeline between Odessa and Brody was built in May 2002 by Ukrnaftogazbud and operated by UkrTransNafta. UkrTransNafta was established to develop the commercial attractiveness of the Odessa–Brody pipeline. However, the pipeline remained unused until 2004.[1]
However, as sufficient capacities of oil supplies were not agreed to, on 5 July 2004 the Ukrainian cabinet accepted a proposal of Russian oil companies to reverse the pipeline flow, thus making it transfer Russian oil southwards to the Black Sea and from there to Mediterranean destinations.[2] Currently the oil is shipped to the pipeline from the junction of the southern branch of Druzhba pipeline. On 24 March 2010, Ukraine's ambassador to Belarus proposed the pipeline begin operating in the opposite direction in order to deliver Venezuelan crude to Belarusian refineries.[3]
Technical features
The current length of the pipeline is 674 km. The pipeline is operated by Ukrtransnafta, and the oil is shipped by TNK-BP.
Expansion
There are plans to implement the original project. On 13 May 2003, the European Commission declared the Odessa-Brody-Płock oil transportation project as a project of Pan-European interest and the trilateral EU-Ukraine-Poland Joint Expert Working Group (OBP JEWG) was created.[1]
In 2005, after the success of Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election and the Orange Revolution, the new government demonstrated an interest in using the pipeline in the direction originally intended, in order to transfer oil from the Caspian to Europe. The pipeline is planned to be expanded to Płock in Poland, and from there through the existing branch off of the northern branch of Druzhba pipeline to Gdańsk. For developing this project, UkrTransNafta and Poland's pipeline operator PERN Przyjazn SA formed a joint venture Sarmatia sp.z.o.o. on 12 July 2004.[1]
On 27 October 2006 at the European Union-Ukraine summit, the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko proposed to build an extension via Slovakia to Kralupy refinery in the Czech Republic. On 15 November 2006, the idea was supported by Ukraine's prime minister Viktor Yanukovych.[4]
On 11 May 2007 the presidents of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and the special envoy of the president of Kazakhstan agreed on the construction of a pipeline linking the existing pipeline with Gdańsk.[5]
On 5 June 2007, at the Gdańsk meeting the intergovernmental working group of the project agreed to expand the composition of shareholders of Sarmatia sp.z.o.o. to include companies from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Lithuania.[6] According to the agreements between the companies, Ukrtransnafta, PERN, SOCAR and GOGC will each own 24.75% of the shares, while Klaipedos Nafta will own 1% of shares.[7]
On 10 October 2007, the agreement forming the pipeline consortium was signed by the presidents of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Azerbaijan at the energy security conference in Vilnius.[8]
In March 2012, the feasibility study was completed.[9]
In October 2013, after substantial delays in developing the project, Poland downgraded the project status of the pipeline from “main” to “reserve,” rejecting EU funds and resulting in the project indefinitely being postponed.[9]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Odessa-Brody-Plock Oil Transportation System", INOGATE Technical Secretariat (2006-10-12). Retrieved on 2007-09-30. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011.
- ↑ "Turkey asks Ukraine to give up reverse of Odessa-Brody oil pipeline", RIA Novosti (2004-07-16). Retrieved on 2008-02-02.
- ↑ "Ukraine Offers Odessa-Brody for Venezuelan Crude to Belarus", Oil&Gas Eurasia, Eurasia Press (2010-03-25). Retrieved on 2010-03-25.
- ↑ Socor, Vladimir (2006-11-16). "Kyiv changing ideas, mixing signals on Odessa-Brody oil pipeline", The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
- ↑ "Six countries agree on oil pipeline bypassing Russia", Forbes (2007-05-11). Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
- ↑ "Communiqué on the Intergovernmental Working Group on energy issues meeting" (DOC) (2007-06-05). Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
- ↑ "Ukrtransnafta Predicts That Odesa-Brody Pipeline Won't Start To Pump Oil Toward Brody Before 2011", Ukranews (2007-07-17). Retrieved on 2007-09-30.
- ↑ "Vilnius unveils Caspian pipe pact", NHST Media Group (2007-10-10). Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Poland postpones Brody-Plock oil pipeline with Ukraine, Enerdata, 7 Oct. 2013
Related SourceWatch articles
External resources
External articles
Wikipedia also has an article on Odessa-Brody-Plock Oil Pipeline. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.
