Will Belarus join energy industry projects?
6
14:24, — Economics
Today First Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchinov is expected in Minsk. Ukrainian media write that he has an intention to involve Belarus into the joint project with the aim to decrease dependency on Russia’s energy resources.
About ten countries are trying to join their efforts to decrease dependence on the Kremlin’s monopoly. International analyst Raman Yakauleuski reminds that among these countries are the Baltic States, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Poland and some others.
“The problem of reducing dependency from Russia is not loosing its relevance, but even gains even more importance, and for Belarus as well. It’s confirmed by the fact that a special summit on this issue will take place in Ivano-Frankivsk.
The first summit of the kind took place a year ago in Krakow, and Belarus wasn’t represented there. The second took place last September in Vilnius, attended by Belarusian vice Foreign Minister Valery Varanetski. And Alyaksnadr Lukashenka is supported to arrive to Ivano-Frankivsk,” Radio Svaboda has been informed by an expert.
A Ukrainian expert Ivan Paltavets explains advantages of both Ukraine and Belarus thanks to their geographic position:
“Ukraine and Belarus are situated on the transit route from Russia to Europe. Gas in transit pipelines will always be cheaper than gas received from other countries. It is not very profitable to build new pipelines”.
This alliance gives great importance to pipeline Odessa-Brody-Plock, Ivan Paltavets stressed.
“It is still operating in a reverse regime, that is Russian oil is pumped from Brody to Odessa. This pipeline doesn’t have economic prospects in this variant. It is to be extended to Plock and even beyond. There should be a trunk Plock-Gdansk constructed. And great prospects would be opened”.
Belarus is also interested in this variant, Yakauleuski claims. However, implementation of this project depends primarily on Kazakhstan:
“Not only Lukashenka, but his Kazakh foil Nazarbayev could arrive to Ivano-Frankivsk. The matter is that project alternative to Russian ones, primarily Odessa-Brody-Plock, cannot work without Kazakh oil. The pipes are to be filled with it, as there is not enough Azerbaijani oil,” Yakauleuski believes.
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