Azernews.Az

BAKU – Ukraine is forging ahead with plans to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Odessa, which will import Azerbaijani gas, Urainian media reported on Friday.

The contractors for the feasibility study on the terminal will be chosen by the end of the year, Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko told a meeting of Ukraine`s Committee on Economic Reforms yesterday.

"The process of selecting the developers of the feasibility study will be completed by the end of the year and the corporate model will be proposed," Boyko said.

The Ukrainian government took the decision to build the terminal in May. Talking about the plans a month later, Yuriy Boyko said, "We are holding very promising talks with our Azerbaijani partners who are building a terminal at Kulevi (Georgia) together with Romania and Bulgaria, and we will be partners there in the purchase of a set volume of liquefied gas and supplies for our country via the terminal in Odessa."

He commented that Ukraine would have made substantial savings if the terminal had already been constructed.

The minister said earlier that the LNG terminal project would take four years. The cost of construction will be about $1bn. Initial capacity will be 5bn cubic metres a year, increasing to 10 bn cu.m in the second phase. Azerbaijan`s Shah Deniz 2 will supply the gas for the terminal via the LNG terminal at Kulevi in Georgia.