EU funding needed for Brody-Plock oil pipeline project - minister
All the preliminary work within the project of the Brody-Plock oil pipeline construction has been conducted, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev told reporters in Warsaw on Tuesday.
"A great amount of work has been carried out," Aliyev said. "This project of construction of the oil pipeline is capital intensive and the EU, in particular Poland, should provide financial assistance in its implementation," he added.
Ecological and environmental permits are planned to be obtained by late this year to apply to the European Commission for a final decision on the financial support of the project early in 2013.
A study on the route selection of future "Brody-Adamova Zastava" pipeline has been completed. The length of the route will be 377 kilometers, 120 of which will be built on the territory of Ukraine, 257 kilometers in Poland.
Construction project of Brody-Plock pipeline was included in the EU "Infrastructure and Environment" operational program as a priority. Within this project funds were reserved amounting to 495 million zloty (about $177 million).
The Odessa-Brody-Plock project envisages reversing the flow of a Ukrainian pipeline that brings Russian crude to the Black Sea port of Odessa. It would instead bring Caspian oil through Ukraine to Poland and the Baltic Sea.
Construction of Odessa-Brody pipeline was completed in May 2002. The pipeline has a length of 674 kilometers. The capacity of pipeline and the terminal is 9-14 million tons per year.
The Odessa-Brody extension project has been plagued for years by lack of funding, supplies and political bickering between Russia and the EU over control of new oil routes.