Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 -- Azerbaijan has tentatively agreed to supply oil for the 674-km Odessa-Brody pipeline, with plans now being studied for an extension of the line to Poland.
Poland's economy minister Piotr Wozniak said a joint venture will be created to include Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania, with other parties, including Slovakia and Kazakhstan, welcome to join.
The pipeline was designed and built as a route to bypass Russian territory in transporting Caspian region oil to European refineries. Although completed in 2001, it had insufficient oil throughput agreements to make its operation commercially viable, and the European Union was reportedly unwilling to build necessary facilities to connect the pipeline to the Western European distribution network.
The project looks more workable now, with the requisite oil to be provided by Azerbaijan, which has seen production rise by 42% year-on-year during January-August of this year, according to Azeri government officials.
Earlier this month, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus commented that a feasibility study of the technical and economic options for extending the line to the Polish seaport Gdansk should be completed by the end of this year.
While acknowledging the importance of Russia as a supplier, Adamkus said the Odessa-Brody pipeline and other such projects aimed at gas and oil transportation from the Caspian Sea area would be valuable in strengthening European energy security and boosting the status of the Caspian Sea region as an international energy provider.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].