Trans-Black Sea Pipeline construction without Lukashenka

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine signed the energy cooperation agreement. The agreement was signed by the representatives of the profile ministries on Wednesday on the first day of the Energy Security Conference in Vilnius. It should be reminded that the initiative on construction the Trans-Black Sea Pipeline in late 1990-th was proposed by the Belarusian Popular Front Party. They see the future of our country in such a way: a democratic country, open to its European neighbors, oil delivering via Trans-Black Sea Pipeline. Now the idea is carrying out without our country.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine agreed on creation and development of the commercial profitable corridor for hydrocarbon transporting from the Caspian region to international market via Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Poland.

The agreement participants have also agreed on the strengthening transportation security including sea and pipeline hydrocarbon transportation from the Caspian region. Besides, the sides have agreed on working out the additional sources and new routes of hydrocarbon supplies and delivery.

“The aim of the agreement is political support of the transport corridor formation determining the degree of the energy cooperation”, - Interfax quotes the document.

Earlier the representatives of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania oil corporations signed an agreement on joining the joint Ukrainian - Polish venture established to the estimated $700 million project realization on extending the Odessa–Brody pipeline to the Polish cities Plock and Gdansk.

The signed the agreement countries consider that the pipeline is to become the alternative to oil supplies from Russia, make the conditions for oil supplies from the Caspian and the Black Sea regions to the Baltic region and from there to the international market. The pipeline from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea is scheduled to begin its work in 2012.

As the partners plan, through the extended pipeline the Caspian oil from Azerbaijan will float to Poland and from there to the international market. Baku voiced political support to the project and signed the document, but its real participation depends on commercial practicality of the project. The case is that the combined transportation including railway and sea ones, is needed for the delivering of the Azerbaijan oil through the route. This inevitably will affect the oil prices. So the experts are discussing the variants of transporting the Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan oil as well.

Warsaw can supply with raw the managed by Polish company PKN ORLEN Mažeikiai oil refinery plant in Lithuania that found itself in difficult situation after the accident on “Druzhba” pipeline and raw loss, which had to be delivered by tankers that is more expensive. They are still speaking about the tankers, but Lithuania thinks of a new branch construction.

Besides, within the conference frames the agreement on organization the joint Lithuanian – Polish venture for the realization of the energy bridge project was planned. The energy bridge is to connect the electric systems of Lithuania and Poland, and by that the European Union. But by the end of the week the question called disagreements that were not resolved.

Lithuanian and Polish presidents tried to find the mutually acceptable decision, they initiated the negotiations on Monday, but they were unsuccessful. In this connection the agreement is to be signed within a month. The Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas thinks it is too early to speak about the quotas on electric energy produced by future new nuclear power station, as the decision on its capacity is not yet taken

The Vilnius conference participants agreed to have the next meeting in Kyiv 2008. This was said by Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev on the team press conference of the presidents of Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland and Georgia after the first working day of the Vilnius conference.

As the Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko remarked, the schedule of the Odessa-Brody-Plock-Gdansk pipeline extension will be approved. The schedule will include work realization, the determining of the financial and technical resources.