Potential deal would be a boon to Ukraine’s efforts to diversify energy exports, although for now there are only ’good intentions’
, saying the project could benefit both nations.
"Azerbaijan has always stood for diversifying oil pipelines," Vilayat Guliyev said at a news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Borys Tarasiuk. "This is in the interests of both Azerbaijan and Ukraine."
Ukraine, along with Russia, Turkey, Georgia and Iran, is eager to take part in the lucrative transportation of oil from Azerbaijan’s huge Caspian Sea deposits.
Presently, Azerbaijan exports Caspian oil through pipelines to Supsa and the Russian port of Novorossiisk, a route considered unreliable because it crosses the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya.
Ukraine has suggested that Caspian oil be taken by tankers from Supsa, a Georgian Black Sea port, to Odessa on the Black Sea, and from there via a pipeline to the western Ukrainian town of Brody for export to Gdansk, Poland.
Oil could be shipped from Gdansk to Western Europe by ship.
Some Western governments back a pipeline running through Turkey.
Tarasiuk said that 70 percent of the piping needed for the Ukrainian project were already in place and said Poland also was interested in the deal. The project, he said, could diversify energy sources for Ukraine, which is a "matter of national security."
But both ministers declined to discuss financing.
"So far there are only good intentions," Guliyev said. "It’s too early to speak of finances and spending. Still, I think this idea will be implemented."
The Azerbaijani minister on Monday began a three-day visit to Ukraine, meeting with Tarasiuk ahead of planned talks with President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko.
The two former Soviet republics signed a friendship and cooperation treaty in March, when Kuchma visited Baku. Their trade turnover stood at dlrs 73 million in 1999, dropping by more than 43 percent since 1998 following a financial crisis in Russia and other ex-Soviet countries.
